Strong and stable red photoluminescence from porous silicon prepared by Fe-contaminated silicon

Strong red photoluminescence (PL) spectra appeared at porous silicon (PS) samples prepared by a chemical anodization of Fe-contaminated Si substrates. The Fe1000 sample with Fe contamination of 1000 ppb showed a ten times stronger red PL than that of the reference PS sample without any Fe contamination, and this sample also showed the higher thermal stability for PL spectra as compared with the reference PS sample. Furthermore, the PL intensity from the PS with Fe contamination is linearly proportional to the Fe-related trap concentrations of Si substrates obtained from DLTS. Especially, all the PS samples exhibit the same PL peak position regardless of Fe contamination concentrations, as compared with that of the reference PS. This means that there is no significant effect such as the variation of size distribution of nanocrystalline Si in PS layer formed on Fe-contaminated Si substrate. Based on the results of PL and DLTS, we found that the PL efficiency depends strongly on the Fe-related trap concentration in Si substrates.     

Photoluminescence in silicon rich oxide thin films under different thermal treatments

Photoluminescence (PL) was studied in silicon rich oxide (with the atomic percentage ranges of Si from 35% to 75%) thin film samples, fabricated by the plasma assisted CVD technique. A broad PL peak, blue-shifted from the bulk silicon band edge of ～1.1 eV, was observed. In one typical sample, the PL peak intensity shows a non-monotonic temperature dependence. This non-monotonic dependence was also observed in previous work by others and attributed to an energy splitting between the excitonic singlet and triplet levels in silicon nanocrystals, a consequence of quantum confinement effect. Finally, in more than 20 samples under different thermal treatments (with the annealing temperature range from 800 °C to 1100 °C), the wavelength of PL peak was observed to be pinned between ～900 and ～1000 nm, independent of thermal budget. This pinning effect, we believe, is probably due to the formation of oxygen-related interface states.     

Defect passivation by hydrogen reincorporation for silicon quantum dots in SiC/SiOx hetero-superlattice

The SiC/SiO_x hetero-superlattice (HSL) consisting of alternating near-stoichiometric SiC barrier layers for the electrical transport and silicon rich SiO_x matrix layers for the quantum dot formation is a promising approach to the realization of silicon quantum dot (Si–QD) absorbers for 3rd generation solar cells. However, additional defect states are generated during post deposition annealing needed for the Si–QD formation causing an increase in sub-band gap absorption and a decrease in PL intensity. Proper passivation of excess defects is of major importance for both the optical and electrical properties of the SiC/SiO_x HSL Si–QD absorber. In this work, we investigate the effectiveness of the hydrogen reincorporation achieved with hydrogen plasma in a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) reactor, hydrogen dissociation catalysis in hot-wire chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD) reactor and annealing in forming gas atmosphere (FGA). Both the HSL samples and single layer reference samples are tested. The passivation quality of the hydrogen reincorporation was examined by comparing electrical and optical properties measured after deposition, after annealing and after passivation. In addition, the formation of Si–QDs in SiC/SiO_x HSL was evaluated using high resolution transmission electron microscopy. We demonstrated that hydrogen can be successfully reincorporated into the annealed HSL sample and its single layer reference samples. FGA passivation is most effective for SiO_1.2 single layers and HSL samples. Passivation with PECVD appeared to be only effective for SiC single layers.     

Structural and optical properties of vapour‐etching based porous silicon

The structural and optical properties of porous silicon (PS) layers prepared by Vapour‐Etching (VE) of moderately and heavily boron‐doped Si substrates are investigated. The VE technique produces rough PS layers that are essentially formed of interconnected cluster‐like structures. Optical investigations indicate that this surface roughness enables the PS layers to be used as antireflection coatings in silicon based devices. These optical characteristics are investigated by optical reflectivity and light scattering. The local chemical state and the microstructure of the PS layers are studied by electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) in transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and are correlated to the red photoluminescence (PL). TEM studies point out that the cluster‐like interconnected structures are composed of luminescent nanocrystallites. PL measurements display that both quantum confinement and surface passivation determine the electronic states of the silicon nanocrystallites. The complex dielectric function is calculated from the experimental single‐scattering distribution spectrum using a Kramers Kronig analysis. The first resonance peak in the imaginary part is observed at 2.3 eV; two other broadened features appear at 4.7 and 8.8 eV. The latter is generally related to an interface plasmon resulting from the silicon‐silicon oxide interface. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The effects of ZnO coating on the photoluminescence properties of porous silicon for the advanced optoelectronic devices

In the present work we investigate, the role of zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films passivating layer deposited by rf magnetron sputtering at room temperature on low (18%) and high (80%) porosity porous silicon (PS). The micro-Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis have been carried out to understand the effect of ZnO films coating on PS. A systematic investigation from Raman spectroscopy suggests the formation of a good quality ZnO wurtzite structure on PS. The photoluminescence (PL) measurements on PS and ZnO coated PS shows a red, blue and UV emission bands at around ～1.8, ～2.78 and ～3.2 eV. An enhancement of all PL emission bands have been achieved after ZnO films deposition on high porosity PS.     

The post-hydrogenation of low-pressure chemical vapor deposited amorphous silicon

Amorphous silicon films prepared by low pressure chemical vapor deposition were exposed to atomic hydrogen in an rf plasma. Concentrated hydrogen and 20% hydrogen in argon was used for the plasma. The hydrogen concentration as a function of depth was measured for various process parameters with secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). Hydrogenation temperatures of 250 to 400°C and exposure times from 30–120 min were used. The hydrogen surface concentration varied between 4 and 10 at%, whereby the higher values were obtained with plasma treatments in concentrated hydrogen.The fit of an error function diffusion profile to the experimentally measured SIMS concentration results in a diffusion coefficient at 400°C of D = 6 × 10^?14 cm² s^?1.     

Porous silicon grains in SiO2 matrix: Ultrafast photoluminescence and optical gain

We search for the presence of stimulated emission in samples of porous silicon embedded in the sol–gel derived SiO₂ matrix. By modifying the etching conditions of the porous silicon using hydrogen peroxide, we decrease substantially the nanocrystal size and produce a significant blue shift of the PL emission. Femtosecond variable-stripe length experiments combined with the shifting-excited spot technique demonstrates positive optical gain (modal gain ∼25 cm⁻¹) in the range 550–730 nm. Ultrafast photoluminescence dynamics indicates the origin of the stimulated emission as possibly due to recombination of excitonic states inside silicon nanocrystals.     

On the Analysis of Hydrogen in as grown and Ion Implanted GaAs Single Crystals

Hydrogen detection and analysis was carried out on the undoped semi‐insulating (S.I.) gallium arsenide (GaAs) single crystal using conventional elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA) technique with high energy, heavy ion beam. Presence of hydrogen (nearly 3 x 1020 atoms/cc) has been observed on the as‐grown samples and further high concentration of atomic hydrogen (total concentration of 7 x 1020 atoms/cc) was found at the surface and was found to be decreasing with depth after 100 nm. Further the low energy hydrogen and oxygen ions implanted separately in GaAs at room temperature were also analysed by ERDA technique. From the analysis, the projected range (Rp) of 100 keV hydrogen and oxygen ions in GaAs was determined to be 891 nm (with Δ Rp equal to 320 nm), 170 nm (with Δ Rp equal to 120 nm) respectively. The experimentally determined values of both Rp and Δ Rp are more as compared with the values obtained using the TRIM theoretical program. Low temperature (4K) photoluminescence (PL) measurements of un‐implanted and H⁺ implanted samples show the passivation of intrinsic deep level defect EL2 and shallow acceptor impurity carbon by the low energy implanted hydrogen ions. The low energy hydrogen implantation may be used as a method of hydrogenation for passivation.     

表面活性剂对水热法合成ZnS:Cu,Al纳米晶光致发光特性的影响

采用水热法直接合成了ZnS∶Cu,Al纳米荧光粉,并且系统研究了加入表面活性剂在不同S/Zn下,清洗样品和不清洗样品的结晶性、傅立叶红外光谱(FT-IR)及光致发光(PL)光谱.XRD和TEM测试结果表明:合成纳米晶为纯立方相结构,球形纳米晶尺寸约15 nm, 尺寸分布窄,分散性好.未清洗样品的结晶性比清洗样品的好,且加入表面活性剂和未清洗都导致粒径增大,影响纳米材料的表面态.改变[S~(2-)]/[Zn~(2+)]物质的量比、清洗和加入表面活性剂都会影响材料的PL强度.这说明其发光机理为紫外光激发材料表面的发光中心,即PL强度决定于纳米材料的表面态.     

Low temperature growth of AlGaAs by MOMBE (CBE) using trimethylamine alane

In order to gain further insight into the surface chemistry of AlGaAs growth by metalorganic molecular beam epitaxy, we have investigated the deposition behavior and material quality of AlGaAs grown at temperatures from 350 to 500°C using trimethylamine alane (TMAA), triethylgallium (TEG) and arsine (AsH₃). Though the Al incorporation rate decreases with decreasing temperature, Ga-alkyl pyrolysis, and hence Ga incorporation rate, declines more rapidly. Thus the Al content increases from X_AlAs = 0.25 at 500°C to X_AlAs = 0.57 at 350°C. Below 450°C, the Ga incorporation rate appears to be determined by the desorption of diethylgallium species, rather than interaction with adsorbed AlH₃. Similarly, carbon incorporation is enhanced by 2 orders of magnitude over this temperature range due to the increasingly inefficient pyrolysis of the Ga-C bond in TEG. Additionally, active hydrogen from the TMAA1, which normally is thought to getter the surface alkyls, is possibly less kinetically active at lower growth temperatures. Contrary to what has been observed in other growth methods, low growth temperatures produced a slight decrease in oxygen concentration. This effect is likely due to reduced interaction between Ga alkoxides (inherent in the TEG) and the atomic hydrogen blocked Al species on the growth surface. This reduction in oxygen content and increase in carbon concentration causes the room temperature PL intensity to actually increase as the temperature is reduced from 500 to 450°C. Surprisingly, the crystalline perfection as measured by ion channeling analysis is quite good, χ_min≤5%, even at growth temperatures as low as 400°C. At 350°C, the AlGaAs layers exhibit severe disorder. This disorder is indicative of insufficient Group III surface mobility, resulting in lattice site defects. The disorder also supports our conclusions of kinetically limited surface mobility of all active surface components.     

Excitation energy dependence of the photoluminescence band at 2.7 and 4.3 eV in silica glass at low temperature

In this paper, we report the excitation energy dependence of the 2.7 and 4.3 eV photoluminescence (PL) bands in oxygen deficient silica glass at low temperature (20 K). The increase or decrease of the PL intensity at low temperatures is different for different exciting light wavelengths. The PL intensity tended to decrease with low temperatures when the excitation was near the upper and lower end of the excited level. The peak energy of the excitation spectrum increases with cooling. These results indicate that the change in excitation level with cooling is associated with the low-temperature dependence of light emission. Thermal motion is suppressed, when the sample temperature is lowered, and the energy-width of the excited level decreases, i.e., the light emission probability decreases (the emission intensity decreases), when near the upper and lower end of the excitation level. These phenomena were observed in the low-temperature dependence of the 4.3 eV emission intensity.     

High-density carrier dynamics in Ge/Si quantum dots studied by time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy

We studied the temperature dependence of high-density carrier dynamics in as-grown and thermally annealed Ge quantum dots (QDs) in silicon crystals. In as-grown and thermally annealed samples, photoluminescence (PL) intensity exhibited a power-law dependence on the excitation intensity and its power-law index was ~ 0.7 at low temperatures. With increasing measurement temperature, PL intensity decreased and the index of the power-law function increased up to ~ 1.5, in which carrier recombination dynamics is dominated by a single carrier trapping. Moreover, in thermally annealed QDs, the index of the power law increased more rapidly than as-grown QDs, suggesting that the carrier recombination dynamics drastically changed in thermally annealed QDs. Effects of Ge/Si interface on high-density carrier recombination process are discussed.     

Characterizing Plasma-exposed In0.52Al0.48As Surface Using Photoreflectance-, Raman-, and Photoluminescence Spectra Method

We have performed Photoreflectance (PR), Raman Scattering (RS), and Photoluminescence (PL) experiments to characterize the In_0.52Al_0.48As surface exposed to plasma by a gas mixture of CH₄/H₂/Ar, PR spectra indicate that RIE (plasma) causes defects such as nonradiative recombination centers, scattering centers, and defects leading to the decrease of signal intensity, broaden line width and red shift of the transitions by increasing the rf power. In the Raman scattering study, RIE causes defects against InAs-like and AlAs-like LO modes vibration. As the rf power increased, the maximum of two LO modes shifts towards lower frequency and the line shape becomes increasingly asymmetric. Also, the intensity degrades gradually by disorder and point defects with increasing rf power. The PL transition energies show a red-shift with increasing the rf power. In addition, the spectral feature broadens, and the intensity decreases with rf power higher than 200 w. The consistence of the PL, PR, and RS results indicate that these three methods can be used as sensitive probes to evaluate the near surface damage of the epilayer.     

Self-assembling of supramolecular erbium–oxygen clusters in magnetron plasma,and the optimization of erbium luminescence in a-SiOx:H〈Er, O〉 films

Films of erbium-doped amorphous hydrogenated silicon a-SiO_x:H〈Er, O〉 were fabricated by dc-magnetron sputtering at different concentrations of oxygen in the magnetron plasma and different areas of erbium metallic target. It was demonstrated that the increase of oxygen concentration in the plasma gaseous phase above ∼5 mol% leads to a sharp rise in the amount of oxygen bound to erbium in the a-SiO_x:H〈Er, O〉 films. Simultaneously, a smooth increase in the concentration of oxygen bound to matrix-forming elements (silicon, hydrogen) is observed. The increase of the area of erbium target, corresponding to the rise of concentration of erbium ions in the plasma, also favors the binding of erbium with oxygen. However, the content of erbium in the a-SiO_x:H〈Er, O〉 film (in atomic percents) significantly drops with intense binding of erbium with oxygen. These facts point to the formation of erbium–oxygen clusters, with a large number of oxygen atoms, which are probably formed in the magnetron plasma but are deposited as a separate species on the substrate in the reaction chamber. The intensity of erbium photoluminescence rises significantly in the region of formation of these large erbium–oxygen clusters. A ‘phase-transition’ model is formulated, describing the properties of a-SiO_x:H〈Er, O〉 films, based on the assumption of the formation of large erbium–oxygen clusters in the magnetron plasma. The size and composition of these clusters are determined. The model is semi-quantitatively consistent with all the experimental findings.     

Annealing effects of highly homogeneous a-Si1−xCx:H

We report the effect of annealing on the properties of amorphous hydrogenated silicon carbide thin films. The samples were deposited onto different substrates by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition at temperatures between 300 and 350 °C. The gaseous mixture was formed by silane and methane, at the ‘silane starving plasma regime’, and diluted with hydrogen. Rutherford backscattering and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry were used, respectively, to determine the atomic composition and chemical bonds of the samples. The film’s structure was analyzed by means of X-ray absorption fine structure and X-ray diffraction. For temperatures higher than 600 °C, amorphous silicon carbide films annealed under inert atmosphere (Ar or N₂) clearly changed their structural and compositional properties due to carbon loss and oxidation, caused by the presence of some oxygen in the annealing system. At 1000 °C, crystallization of the films becomes evident but only stoichiometric films deposited on single crystalline Si[1 0 0] substrates presented epitaxial formation of SiC crystals, showing that the crystallization process is substrate dependent. Films annealed in high-vacuum also changed their structural properties for annealing temperatures higher than 600 °C, but no traces of oxidation were observed or variations in their silicon or carbon content. At 1200 °C the stoichiometric films are fully polycrystalline, showing the existence of only a SiC phase. The XANES signal of samples deposited onto different substrates and annealed under high-vacuum also show that crystallization is highly substrate dependent.     

乙二胺用量对CeO2纳米棒合成的影响

采用水热法,以氯化铈为铈源、乙二胺为络合剂、水合肼为沉淀剂,通过改变乙二胺的用量制备了四种CeO2粉体样品,通过X射线衍射仪(XRD)、紫外可见分光光度计(UV-Vis)、荧光分光光度计(PL)和扫描电镜(SEM)对合成的CeO2样品的结构、形貌和光学性质进行表征。实验结果表明乙二胺剂量对样品的晶格常数、氧空位度、能带间隙、荧光强度等有显著影响。晶格常数随乙二胺剂量的增加先减小后增大,剂量为5 mL时晶格常数最小,氧空位度随乙二胺剂量的增加先增加后减少,剂量为5 mL时氧空位浓度最大、样品能带间隙最小、对紫外线的吸收最强、荧光强度最大。     

纯化器对VHF-PECVD制备的不同结构硅薄膜特性的影响

本文采用VHF-PECVD技术制备了不同结构的硅薄膜,分析研究了有、无纯化器对制备薄膜特性的影响.电学特性和结构特性测试结果表明:在10W的功率条件下,使用纯化器时制备的薄膜是光敏性满足非晶硅电池要求的材料,而在不使用纯化器时制备的材料是适用于太阳能电池有源层的纳米硅材料;在30W时,不使用纯化器制备薄膜的晶化明显增大,光敏性也相应的降低,50W的条件表现出相类似的结果,初步分析是氧引起的差别;激活能的测试结果也表明,使用纯化器会降低材料中的氧含量,即表现激活能相对大;另外,沉积速率的测试结果也给出:耗尽区所在位置与是否使用纯化器有很大关系.     

非晶锗的低温晶化和光学特性研究

本文采用直流磁控溅射在(100)硅衬底上沉积了单层锗薄膜,分别用拉曼光谱和X射线衍射研究了薄膜的结晶性,通过对结晶性的研究发现,在衬底温度为200℃时溅射功率为150W时结晶性开始变好,功率增至250W的过程,锗薄膜的择优取向发生(220)向(331)的变化.这样在无金属掺杂的情况下得到了结晶性较好的样品.光致发光结果表明,非晶锗在可见光区有较强的发光现象,发光峰位中心分别在648.1nm和713.0nm.发光峰位不随晶粒尺寸变化而变化,但峰强对晶粒大小的依赖性很强,平均晶粒较大的锗薄膜在可见光区发光现象不显著.     

Flux Bridgman growth and the influence of annealing temperatures on PL properties of ZnO single crystals

Transparent ZnO crystals were obtained by the flux Bridgman method from high temperature solution of 22 mol% ZnO‐78 mol% PbF₂ system. The influence of annealing temperatures on the photoluminescence (PL) of ZnO crystal was investigated. An ultraviolet emission peak at about 379 nm was observed in PL spectra and the peak position has a weak blueshift for annealed samples. A green band centered at 523 nm appeared in the annealed samples and its intensity enhanced with the increase of annealing temperatures, while the intensity of the ultraviolet peak decreased considerably. However, the ultraviolet emission peak became the strongest after annealing at 1000 °C. This phenomenon was considered to be associated with oxygen vacancy and F^‐ impurities induced by the PbF₂ flux. The results show that high temperature annealing in air seems helpful for improving the PL properties of ZnO crystal. (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Characterization of hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin films prepared by magnetron sputtering

Magnetron sputtered hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin films have been characterized. Hydrogen (H₂) with argon (Ar) was introduced into the sputtering chamber to create the plasma. A sudden increase in the deposition rate occurred when the hydrogen was added. The maximum hydrogen content of 16 atomic percent (at.%) was achieved and a bandgap of about 2.07 eV was determined from the spectral investigations of the hydrogenated films. The effect of radio frequency (RF) power on the deposition rate, as well as on the hydrogen content was investigated. To change the hydrogen content in the films, the hydrogen flow rate was varied while keeping the argon flow rate constant. The hydrogen content in the films increased with increasing hydrogen flow rate up to the maximum content of 16 at.% and then decreased for further increases in hydrogen flow.