LIGHT-EMISSION FROM A SILICON QUANTUM-WELL

Citation
Ef. Steigmeier et al., LIGHT-EMISSION FROM A SILICON QUANTUM-WELL, Applied physics letters, 69(27), 1996, pp. 4165-4167
Citations number
9
Categorie Soggetti
Physics, Applied
Journal title
ISSN journal
00036951
Volume
69
Issue
27
Year of publication
1996
Pages
4165 - 4167
Database
ISI
SICI code
0003-6951(1996)69:27<4165:LFASQ>2.0.ZU;2-J
Abstract
We compare the photoluminescence (PL) properties of silicon (Si) singl e quantum well structures, consisting of an either amorphous or crysta lline Si layer of 3 nm thickness, embedded between silicon-nitride lay ers. These structures are grown by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor depo sition on Si substrates. After crystallization of the originally amorp hous Si layers and passivation by hydrogen, strongly polarized PL is o bserved in the entire visible spectrum. In contrast, a reference struc ture without the 3 nm silicon layer, but otherwise identical, shows PL in the red and infrared only, but also strongly polarized. Thus, the PL in the blue and green part of the spectrum comes from recombination via Si quantum well states, while the red and infrared PL is due-to s tates at the interface between crystalline Si and silicon-nitride. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.