Sub-Micron Selective Photoluminescence in Porous Si by Focused Ion Beam Implantation

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe effect of Si doping on the formation of stain-etched porous Si and its photoluminescent properties was studied. Porous Si is obtained by purely chemical etching of crystalline Si in a solution of HF:HNO3:H2O in the ratio of 1:3:5. We have observed that an incubation time (ti) exists between the insertion of Si into the solution and the onset of porous Si production. This incubation time was found to be a strong function of hole concentration in both n- and p-Si. In p-Si, the ti decreased rapidly with increasing conductivity, whereas for n-Si the opposite (but not as pronounced) trend was found to be the case. For example in (B-doped) p-Si, ti, is only ∼0.5 min for 250 (Ω-cm)−1 but increases to ∼ 5 min for 0.2 (Ω-cm)−1. In (P-doped) n-Si substrates ti was ∼ 8 min for 0.2 (Ω-cm)−1 increasing to ∼ 10 min for 7 (Ω-cm)−1. Photoluminescence (PL) measurements of the porous Si obtained on substrates of various conductivity (p and n) show similar spectra, namely a peak at around 1.94 eV with a full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of about 0.5 eV. Based on the ti difference, we have fabricated localized photoemitting porous Si patterns by Ga+ focused ion beam (FIB) implantation doping and B+ broad beam (BB) implantation doping of n-type Si. Using 30 kV FIB Ga+ implantation, sub-micron photoemitting patterns have been obtained for the first time.