Microscopic study of electrical properties of CrSi2 nanocrystals in silicon

Silicon p+–p−–n Diodes with Embedded β-FeSi2 and CrSi2 Nanocrystals: Morphology, Crystal Structure and Photoelectric Properties

The [Formula: see text]–[Formula: see text]–[Formula: see text] diode structures with a variable number of [Formula: see text]-FeSi2 and CrSi2 nanocrystal (NC) bilayer were studied at room and liquid nitrogen temperatures. The high crystal quality of Si and embedded NCs was determined by HRTEM cross-sectional data. This diode demonstrated a photoresponse in the IR region (1.02–0.8[Formula: see text]eV) which was associated with a decrease in recombination losses with the main contribution coming from CrSi2 NCs. Calculations of photoyield and its extrapolation to zero resulted in band gap values of 0.35[Formula: see text]eV at 300[Formula: see text]K and 0.46[Formula: see text]eV at 90[Formula: see text]K. The spectral sensitivity of [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]A/W and specific detectivity of [Formula: see text][Formula: see text](cm Hz[Formula: see text]/W) were determined at [Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text]m and T=300[Formula: see text]K.