Temperature dependence of photoluminescence of semiconductor quantum dots upon indirect excitation in a SiO2 dielectric matrix

Abstract

The processes of excitation and relaxation of confined excitons in semiconductor quantum dots upon indirect high-energy excitation have been considered. The temperature behavior of photoluminescence of quantum dots in a SiO2 dielectric matrix has been described using a model accounting for the process of population of quantum-dot triplet states upon excitation transfer through mobile excitons of the matrix. Analytical expressions that take into account the two-stage and three-stage schemes of relaxation transitions have been obtained. The applicability of these expressions for analyzing fluorescence properties of semiconductor quantum dots has been demonstrated using the example of silicon and carbon nanoparticles in the thin-film SiO2 matrix. It has been shown that the complex character of the temperature dependences of the photoluminescence upon indirect excitation can be an indication of a multistage relaxation of excited states of the matrix and quantum dots. The model concepts developed in this study allow one to predict the form of temperature dependences of the photoluminescence for different schemes of indirect excitation of quantum dots.