Strong orange–red light emissions from amorphous silicon nitride films grown at high pressures

We observed very bright orange–red light emissions from amorphous silicon nitride prepared under high-pressure deposition conditions. By increasing the pressure from 300 to 700Pa, the photoluminescence (PL) intensity could be more than doubled. The introduction of N–H bonds is shown to play a key role in enhancing the PL intensity of the films. The improved PL intensity is attributed to the good hydrogen passivation of nonradiative defect states related to N under high growth pressures.