{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,30]],"date-time":"2025-07-30T10:49:46Z","timestamp":1753872586942,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":61,"publisher":"AIP Publishing","issue":"4","content-domain":{"domain":["pubs.aip.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2007,8,15]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>We have investigated the paramagnetic defects and the structure of magnetron sputtered amorphous SiO2 films containing 3.8at.% Ge (a-SiO2:Ge) over the 500\u20131000\u00b0C annealing temperature range using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) absorption, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The EPR spectra of as-grown a-SiO2:Ge films reveal three different defects: Si-E\u2032 centers with g\u2016=2.0019 and g\u22a5=2.0004, \u2022Ge\u2261Si3 dangling bonds with g\u2016=2.001 and g\u22a5=2.024, and \u2022Si\u2261Si2O or \u2022Si\u2261SiO2 defects with g=2.004. While the Si-E\u2032 and g=2.004 lines are removed by heat treatments at 500\u00b0C, the signal from \u2022Ge\u2261Si3 dangling bonds persists up to annealing temperatures of 700\u00b0C. The structural changes induced upon annealing on the a-SiO2:Ge films have been studied by monitoring the frequency and linewidth of the asymmetric stretching vibration of the Si\u2013O\u2013Si linkage using FTIR. We find that the rearrangement of the amorphous oxide network occurs primarily within the 500\u2013700\u00b0C temperature range and no further significant recovery happens upon annealing at temperatures above 700\u00b0C, in line with the EPR results. TEM images reveal the formation of Ge nanocrystals (Ge ncs) with diameters of 2\u20134nm already upon heat treatments at 500\u00b0C. Moreover, it is shown that the mean size of the Ge ncs increases quite significantly as the temperature of the heat treatments increases. The mean diameter of Ge ncs observed after annealing at temperatures above 600\u00b0C is above that expected for Ge ncs with efficient photoluminescence properties. The implications of our experimental results for the understanding of the quenching of the photoluminescence from quantum-confined excitons within Ge ncs are briefly discussed.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1063\/1.2769780","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2007,8,24]],"date-time":"2007-08-24T22:22:40Z","timestamp":1187994160000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1063\/aip-crossmark-policy-page","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Paramagnetic defects and amorphous network reconstruction of magnetron sputtered a-SiO2:Ge films"],"prefix":"10.1063","volume":"102","author":[{"given":"R. N.","family":"Pereira","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Aarhus Department of Physics and Astronomy, , DK-8000 Aarhus, Denmark and Walter Schottky Institute, , Am Coulombwall 3, 85748 Garching, Germany"},{"name":"Technical University Munich Department of Physics and Astronomy, , DK-8000 Aarhus, Denmark and Walter Schottky Institute, , Am Coulombwall 3, 85748 Garching, Germany"}]},{"given":"J.","family":"Skov Jensen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Aarhus Department of Physics and Astronomy, , DK-8000 Aarhus, Denmark"}]},{"given":"J.","family":"Chevallier","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Aarhus Department of Physics and Astronomy, , DK-8000 Aarhus, Denmark"}]},{"given":"B.","family":"Bech Nielsen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Aarhus Department of Physics and Astronomy, , DK-8000 Aarhus, Denmark"}]},{"given":"A.","family":"Nylandsted Larsen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Aarhus Department of Physics and Astronomy, , DK-8000 Aarhus, Denmark"}]}],"member":"317","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2007,8,24]]},"reference":[{"volume-title":"Optical Semiconductor Devices","year":"1999","key":"2023080210190073300_c1"},{"key":"2023080210190073300_c2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2379","DOI":"10.1063\/1.102921","volume":"56","year":"1990","journal-title":"Appl. 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