THE QUENCHING OF POROUS SILICON PHOTOLUMINESCENCE BY GROUP-15 TRIARYLDERIVATIVES - EFFECTS OF SURFACE PHOTOOXIDATION

This work centers on an evaluation of the impact of photo-oxidation of the porous Si (PS) surface on the ability of the triaryl derivatives of the Group 15 elements EPh(3) (E = N, P, As) to quench the photolumi nescence of porous silicon. The ability of porous Si to be quenched by these Group 15 triaryl derivatives is monitored with regard to four d ifferent surface treatments: freshly prepared porous Si, (i) without a nd (ii) with illumination to steady-state photoluminescence intensity; porous Si aged in ambient air for one month, (iii) without and (iv) w ith illumination to steady-state PL conditions. We specifically employ as a criterion for such an analysis the magnitude(s) of the maximum p ercentage of the integrated PL which can be quenched by a given Lewis base for a particular surface, and compare the trends observed with re ported gas phase proton affinities.