Soft X-Ray Emission Studies of the Electronic Structure in Silicon Nanoclusters

Abstract

Density of states changes in the valence and conduction band of silicon nanoclusters were monitored using soft x-ray emission and absorption spectroscopy as a function of cluster size. A progressive increase in the valence band edge toward lower energy is found for clusters with decreasing diameters. A similar but smaller shift is observed in the near-edge x-ray absorption data of the silicon nanoclusters.

Free electron laser stochastic spectroscopy revealing silicon bond softening dynamics

“…Besides the remarkable data quality, we observed different ratios among the relative amplitude of the L 2 and L 3 edges in the four cases. This can be ascribed to the high sensitivity of this parameter to the chemical and structural environment of the Si atoms [62][63][64][65], added to the fact that the measurements were performed on different Si membranes, although nominally identical, that may have been affected by different contamination levels.…”