The origin of blue photoluminescence from nc-Si/SiO2 multilayers

Intensive blue photoluminescence （PL） was observed at room temperature from the nanocrystalline-Si/SiO2 （nc-Si/SiO2） multilayers （MLs） obtained by thermal annealing of SiO/SiO2 MLs for the first time. By controlling the size of nc-Si formed in SiO sublayer from 3.5 to 1.5 nm, the PL peak blueshifts from 457 to 411 nm. Combining the analysis of TEM, Raman and absorption measurement, this paper attributes the blue PL to multiple luminescent centres at the interface of nc-Si and SiO2.     

Correlation between Light Emissions from Amorphous-Si：H/SiO2 and nc-Si/SiO2 Multilayers

We investigate the properties of light emission from amorphous-Si：H/SiO2 and nc-Si/SiO2 multilayers （MLs）. The size dependence of light emission is well exhibited when the a-Si：H sublayer thickness is thinner than 4 nm and the interface states are well passlvated by hydrogen. For the nc-Si/Si02 MLs, the oxygen modified interface states and nanocrystalline silicon play a predominant role in the properties of light emission. It is found that the light emission from nc-Si/SiO2 is in agreement with the model of interface state combining with quantum confinement when the size of nc-Si is smaller than 4 nm. The role of hydrogen and oxygen is discussed in detail.