The origin of the fast blue photoluminescence from spark processed silicon

Vepřek, S.; Wirschem, Th.; Dian, J.; Perna, S.; Merica, R.; Vepřek-Heijman, Maritza G. J.; Heinecke, R.; Peřina, Vratislav

doi:10.1016/s0040-6090(96)09485-0

Cited by 9 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Furthermore, there have been reports of luminescence from silicon nanoclusters doped with luminescent centers that exhibit fast narrow-band luminescence via an excitation exchange process from the silicon nanoclusters. 2,8,14 As yet there are no efficiencies quoted for such material, but work in our group is progressing in this direction. There have also been a small number of demonstrations of electroluminescence from films of silicon-rich silica: 8,[15][16][17] This material does not suffer from the problems of poor surface contact encountered in porous silicon; opening up the way for the development of luminescent devices based on silicon nanoclusters.…”

Section: ͓S0003-6951͑98͒03330-0͔mentioning

confidence: 98%

Luminescence efficiency measurements of silicon nanoclusters

Kenyon

Trwoga

Pitt

et al. 1998

Applied Physics Letters

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We present the results of what we believe to be the first study of the power efficiency of room temperature photoluminescence from thin films of silica containing silicon nanoclusters. Films were prepared by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition from silane and nitrous oxide precursors. Luminescence was excited using the 476 nm line of an argon-ion laser. We have measured power efficiencies for samples that exhibit luminescence solely due to radiative recombination of quantum confined excitons. Efficiencies around 0.04% are reported. © 1998 American Institute of Physics. ͓S0003-6951͑98͒03330-0͔Following Canham's report of visible luminescence from porous silicon, 1 there has been an explosion of interest in light emission from novel forms of nanoscale silicon. There have been a number of reports in the literature of visible and near-IR emission from silicon nanoclusters. [2][3][4][5][6] Typically, such clusters lie in the sub-100-Å diameter regime and exhibit a broad red luminescence band similar to that reported from porous silicon. Reports have been published of nanoclusters deposited onto silicon substrates and embedded within dielectric matrices such as silica. There has been much debate over the nature of the luminescence mechanism in this material and contradictory reports of its optical properties, but there is a growing consensus that, in common with porous silicon, quantum confinement of excitons within the nanoclusters plays a significant role. 7-10 Previous work by this group has addressed the nature of the luminescence mechanism and has indicated the presence of two distinct processes: radiative recombination of confined excitons within the silicon nanoclusters and defect luminescence from the surrounding matrix. 7,8 A single unique mechanism does not provide a good enough explanation of the luminescence properties of nanoscale silicon. However, whatever the mechanism, this remains a technologically important material as it makes a significant contribution to the search for a silicon-based light emitting material. For this reason, it is imperative to obtain measurements of luminescence efficiency from nanoclustered silicon. To date, despite the number of reports of luminescence from silicon nanoclusters, there have been no reported studies of luminescence efficiency from this class of material.In this letter we present the results of a study undertaken to measure photoluminescence power efficiencies of thin films of silica containing nanoclustered silicon. The films were produced by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition ͑PECVD͒: details of their growth can be found in Ref. 7. Films were 1-2 m thick and were grown on silicon substrates. Photoluminescence was excited using the 476 nm line of an argon-ion laser, and for the purposes of recording spectra luminescence was dispersed through a single-grating Bentham M300 monochromator and detected using a photomultiplier tube. Spectra were corrected for the spectral response of the optical system and the whole apparatus was computer controlled.For m...

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Section: ͓S0003-6951͑98͒03330-0͔mentioning

confidence: 98%

Luminescence efficiency measurements of silicon nanoclusters

Kenyon

Trwoga

Pitt

et al. 1998

Applied Physics Letters

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“…The highest PL intensity and widest wavelength occur at 3FN 2 % while that at 2FN 2 % is in between and the lowest intensity happens at 6FN 2 %. The PL origins in the nanostructured films have been reported from the QC effect [7,13,19], imperfections at the surface/interface [13] or in the films [11,13] and surrounding hosts [12][13][14][15]29]. Qin [13] reported the extended QC/LC (luminescence center) model to discuss three types of competitive photoexcitation (PhEx)/ photoemission (PhEm) processes as shown in Figs.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The conventional visible PL behavior at RT is observed in semiconducting or insulating materials made of the electrochemical etched porous Si microstrcuture [7][8][9], post high-temperature annealed chemical vapor deposition (CVD)/ PECVD films with Si nanocrystals (NCs) or quantum dots (QDs) embedded in an amorphous oxide [10][11][12][13][14][15] or nitride [14][15][16][17][18] matrix. Moreover, since Canham [7] demonstrated that quantum confinement (QC) effect enabled the nanostructured Si emission from bulk's near infrared to visible red light, thousands of papers have been reported on the QC-enabled PL behaviors in Si NCs or QDs from the viewpoints of fabrication [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18], device [10,16,17] and modeling [11,13]. The combined CVD and post-annealing methods were frequently used to form Si NCs embedded in an amorphous film [11,12,[14][15][16][17][18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, since Canham [7] demonstrated that quantum confinement (QC) effect enabled the nanostructured Si emission from bulk's near infrared to visible red light, thousands of papers have been reported on the QC-enabled PL behaviors in Si NCs or QDs from the viewpoints of fabrication [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18], device [10,16,17] and modeling [11,13]. The combined CVD and post-annealing methods were frequently used to form Si NCs embedded in an amorphous film [11,12,[14][15][16][17][18]. The tungsten-doped oxide [11,12] or laser-induced Si NCs formation [19] can be applied to adjust the emission wavelength.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The combined CVD and post-annealing methods were frequently used to form Si NCs embedded in an amorphous film [11,12,[14][15][16][17][18]. The tungsten-doped oxide [11,12] or laser-induced Si NCs formation [19] can be applied to adjust the emission wavelength. Because of the nonconducting PL film with large bandgaps, the coating of conducting transparent oxide or semitransparent metal electrodes [10,16,17] was desired for device integration.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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