Keywords

spectroscopy, microstructure, mesostructure, porous silicon, photoluminescence

Abstract

Scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy were used to characterize the microstructure of photoluminescent porous silicon (PS) layers formed by the anodic etching (HF:H2O:ethanol), at various current densities, of p-type (100) silicon wafers possessing resitivity in the range 1-2 Ω cm. Existing models for the origin of luminescence in PS are not supported by our observations. Cross-sectional as well as surface atomic force micrographs show the material to be clumpy rather than columnar; rodlike structures are not observed down to a scale of 40 nm. A three-dimensional model of the mesostructure of porous silicon is discussed. Room-temperature Raman scattering measurements show no evidence for a-Si:H or polysilanes and the material reported here is composed of 10 nm roughly spherical Si nanocrytallites rather than 3 nm wires postulated in standard quantum confinement models.

Original Publication Citation

The following article appeared in F. Ruiz, C. Vázquez-López, Jesus González-Hernández, and David D. Allred, G. Romero Paredes and R. Peña-Sierra and G. Torres Delgado, "Mesostructure of photoluminescent porous silicon," Journal of Vacuum Science Technology A 12(4), 2565 71 (1994). and may be found at [http://avspublications.org/jvsta/resource/1/jvtad6/v12/i4/p2565_s1][http://dx.doi.org/1.1116/1.57958].

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

1994-07-01

Permanent URL

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/2898

Publisher

American Vacuum Society

Language

English

College

Physical and Mathematical Sciences

Department

Physics and Astronomy

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