Chapter 9 - Porous Silicon

Abstract

This chapter provides a brief history of porous silicon (PSi), and discusses that visible luminescence in porous silicon is basically due to quantum confinement; however, oxygen complexes also contribute significantly. The morphology may be improved by reducing the etching rate. Silicon can be epitaxially grown on porous silicon. It is argued that the possibility of embedding luminescent quantum dots of CdSe or PbS into high porosity PSi, sealed off by epitaxial silicon growth, offers the best chance for electronic and optoelectronic applications. The possibility of introducing luminescent quantum dots, even with a periodic pattern, into PSi followed by epitaxial Si growth may be useful in optoelectronic applications. And replacing luminescent quantum dots by wide-gap quantum dots may serve as a gate capacitor to control source-drain current in a field effect transistor. Therefore, the capability of epitaxial growth on PSi has enormous device potential.