Room temperature photoluminescence in strained Si1−xGex/Si quantum wells

Abstract

Photoluminescence (PL) observation at room temperature is reported in strained Si1−xGex/Si multiple quantum wells (MQWs) grown by gas source Si molecular beam epitaxy. It was found that QW PL is enhanced when MQWs are arranged so that photogenerated carriers are trapped efficiently to QWs without significant loss. This was achieved by locating MQWs over the penetration depth of the excitation light. QW PL was found to develop with a power exponent of 1.8 for lower excitation. QW PL was observed at room temperature for MQW samples with x up to 0.69.