(Invited) Synthesis and Characterization of Group IV Nanocrystals

Abstract

The first reports that nanostructured silicon emits radiation in the visible wavelength date back twenty years. This observation is interesting from a fundamental point of view and is potentially important for device engineering, as it points to the opportunity of combining microelectronics and optoelectronics on the same silicon chip. This combination is becoming increasingly attractive due to the intrinsic limitations that are being met by the microelectronics industry in its attempt to progressively reduce device features. In this review, we describe and compare the structure and properties of group IV nanocrystals (mostly silicon, with some references to germanium) grown by ion implantation and reactive pulsed laser deposition. Particular emphasis is placed on structural and spectroscopic characterization, as well as size-dependent optical properties. The origin of the luminescence signal and the role of defects and interfaces are discussed in detail.

Study of the Effect of Nitric Acid in Electrochemically Synthesized Silicon Nanocrystals: Tunability of Bright and Uniform Photoluminescence

“…In this graph, it is observed that the maximum PL is obtained with Si-NCs of about 2.9 nm in size. Similar results have been reported with 2.6 nm-sized Si-NCs embedded in silicon-rich oxide films deposited by LPCVD [63]. Additionally, a quenching of the PL was obtained for Si-NCs bigger than 4 nm.…”