Size Of Si Nanostructures Research Articles

Crystal orientation dependence of alternating current photo-assisted (ACPEC) porous silicon for potential optoelectronic application

Purpose Porous silicon (PS) was successfully fabricated using an alternating current photo-assisted electrochemical etching (ACPEC) technique. This study aims to compare the effect of different crystal orientation of Si n(100) and n(111) on the structural and optical characteristics of the PS. Design/methodology/approach PS was fabricated using ACPEC etching with a current density of J = 10 mA/cm2 and etching time of 30 min. The PS samples denoted by PS100 and PS111 were etched using HF-based solution under the illumination of an incandescent white light. Findings FESEM images showed that the porous structure of PS100 was a uniform circular shape with higher density and porosity than PS111. In addition, the AFM indicated that the surface roughness of porous n(100) was less than porous n(111). Raman spectra of the PS samples showed a stronger peak with FWHM of 4.211 cm−1 and redshift of 1.093 cm−1. High resolution X-ray diffraction revealed cubic Si phases in the PS samples with tensile strain for porous n(100) and compressive strain for porous n(111). Photoluminescence observation of porous n(100) and porous n(111) displayed significant visible emissions at 651.97 nm (Eg = 190eV) and 640.89 nm (Eg = 1.93 eV) which was because of the nano-structure size of silicon through the quantum confinement effect. The size of Si nanostructures was approximately 8 nm from a quantized state effective mass theory. Originality/value The work presented crystal orientation dependence of Si n(100) and n(111) for the formation of uniform and denser PS using new ACPEC technique for potential visible optoelectronic application. The ACPEC technique has effectively formed good structural and optical characteristics of PS.

Recent Progress in the Understanding of Si-Nanostructures Formation in <i>a</i>-SiN<sub>x</sub>:H Thin Film for Si-Based Optoelectronic Devices

There has been a rapidly increasing interest in the synthesis and characterization of Si- nanostructures embedded in a dielectric matrix, as it can lead to energy-efficient and cost-effective Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS)-compatible Si-based light sources for optoelectronic integration. In the present contribution, first an overview of the SiOx as a dielectric matrix and its limitations are discussed. We then review the literature on hydrogenated amorphous silicon nitride (a-SiNx:H) as a dielectric matrix for Si-nanostructures, which have been carried out using silane (SiH4) and ammonia (NH3) as the reactant gases. Our studies demonstrate that the least amount of hydrogen in the as-deposited (ASD) a-SiNx:H films not only allows in-situ formation of Si-nanostructures but also stabilizes silicon nitride (Si3N4) phase. The recent advances made in controlling the shape and size of Si-nanostructures embedded in a-SiNx:H matrix by swift heavy ion (SHI) irradiation are briefly discussed.

LUMINESCENCE BEHAVIOR AND MECHANISM OF LIGHT-EMITTING POROUS SILICON

In this review article, we give a new insight into the luminescence mechanism of porous silicon. First, we observed a “pinning” characteristic of photoluminescent peaks for as-etched porous silicon samples. It was explained as resulting from the discontinuous variation of the size of Si nanostructures, i.e. the size quantization. A tight-binding calculation of the energy band gap widening versus the dimension of nanoscale Si based on the closed-shell Si cluster model agrees well with the experimental observations. Second, the blue-light emission from porous silicon was achieved by using boiling water treatment. By investigating the luminescence micrographic images and the decaying behaviors of PL spectra, it has been shown that the blue-light emission is believed to be originated from the porous silicon skeleton rather than the surface contaminations. The conditions for achieving blue light need proper size of Si nanostructures, low-surface recombination velocity, and mechanically strong skeleton. The fulfillment of these conditions simultaneously is possible but rather critical. Third, the exciton dynamics in light-emitting porous silicon is studied by using the temperature-dependent and picosecond time-resolved luminescence spectroscopy. A direct evidence of the existence of confined excitons induced by the quantum size effect has been revealed. Two excitation states are found to be responsible for the visible light emission, i.e. a higher lying energy state corresponding to the confined excitons in Si nanostructures and a lower lying state related with surfaces of Si wires or dots. A picture of the carrier transfer between the quantum confined state and the surface localized state has been proposed. Finally, we investigated the transient electroluminescence behaviors of Au/porous silicon/Si/Al structure and found it is very similar to that of an ordinary p-n junction light-emitting diode. The mechanism of electroluminescence is explained as the carrier injection through the Au/porous silicon Schotky barrier and the porous silicon/p-Si heterojunction into the corrugated Si wires, where the radiative recombination of carriers occurs.