Low dimensional materials have attracted much interest due to potential to optoelectronic and/or electronic device applications using their unique properties. From the viewpoint of practical applications, fabrication of low dimensional materials directly on silicon substrates, which are mostly used for various devices, is important issue. In this work, Zn-Si-O films with various compositions were sputter-deposited on Si (100) substrates and post-annealed by using rapid thermal process at 700 ^oC for 3 minutes in a nitrogen atmosphere. The composition of Zn-Si-O films ranging from Zn/Si=0.4 to Zn/Si=11.2, measured by EDS equipped with high-resolution TEM (HRTEM), could be obtained by controlling the area ratio of ZnO to Si target. As a result of HRTEM analysis, the microstructures of Zn-Si-O films were strongly dependent on the Zn/Si ratio. Three types of microstructure were evolved depending on the Zn/Si ratio. When the Zn/Si ratio was below ~1.6, nanoparticles were distributed in an amorphous matrix of SiO_x. In this case, nanoparticles exist almost independently. When Zn/Si ratio was ~4.0, nanoparticles are almost interconnected and nanoparticle-network structure was developed. When Zn/Si ratio was ~11.2, ZnO film structure was formed, in which ZnO film was grown in a preferred orientation of [002] normal to substrate surface. From the HRTEM analysis, the nanoparticles could be identified as a Zn₂SiO₄ phase. Consequently, Zn₂SiO₄ nanoparticles could be simply synthesized by controlling the film composition and post-annealing conditions, which show strong UV-blue cathodoluminescent emission leading to optoelectronic device application. The mechanism of formation of a Zn₂SiO₄ nanoparticle will be systematically discussed based on the HRTEM analysis of Zn-Si-O films and the XRD results of Zn₂SiO₄ bulk annealed at various temperatures.

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1. Optical properties of Zn₂SiO₄ nanoparticles embedded in SiO_x amorphous matrix