Resonance effects in the non-radiative de-excitation of silicon in porous silicon

Resonant silicon Auger KLL and 2s and 2p photoemission spectra of a porous silicon sample have been studied when excited by photons in the energy domain of the 1s edge in pure silicon and silicon oxide. Characteristic features of a resonant process could be detected. In particular, the constant initial state spectrum of the 2p state of silica behaves similarly to that encountered in systems which present a well-defined atomic level. This is due to the existence of a well-localized molecular orbital built in the SiO₄ unit. The use of high-energy photons, which generate high-energy electrons, allows these photoemission experiments to be quite bulk sensitive.