Identification of local silicon cluster nanostructures inside SixGe1-x alloy nanocrystals by Raman spectroscopy

By experimentally examining and theoretically analyzing the Raman spectra of SixGe1-x nanocrystal-embedded silica films, we show that the 430 cm(-1) Si-Si optical phonon mode can be used as a fingerprint to identify the existence of local silicon cluster nanostructures inside SixGe1-x nanocrystals with high silicon content.