Low temperature photoluminescence of a nanostructured silicon based semiconductor for potential applications

A nanoscale layer of amorphized silicon is obtained by implantations with silicon ions through a P-doped FZ-silicon wafer material few nanometers below the wafer surface. After a controlled annealing, the amorphized silicon material is sandwiched between two layers of recrystallized silicon. Defects remain at the interface c-Si / a-Si / c-Si. Photoluminescence at very low temperature is experimented to determine the energy levels generated by this design. TEM pictures show that some nanocrystalline elements are located close to the interface surrounded by a-Si. However, the photoluminescence spectra do not present any signal of luminescence from them. This could be due to random sizes of nanocrystals. Then, a scan from energies below the silicon bandgap has been realized at 8 K. The spectrum is composed of multiple narrow peaks close to the conduction band and a broadband from 0.78 eV to 1.05 eV. In order to determine the origin of these signals, spectra of three distinct peaks were collected at different temperatures from 8 K to 120 K. The broadband collapses more rapidly by increasing the temperature than the narrow lines and theirs maxima of intensity differ.