SiO2 was thermally grown on arrays of silicon planes obtained from < 110 >
substrates by means of micromachining. Blue photoluminescence was observed
under pulsed-laser excitation from SiO2 grown on these planes. Experiments
revealed that this emission was not affected by the Si/SiO2 interface prope
rties or the silicon thickness, whereas its intensity and spectral features
depended on the oxide thickness. Moreover, no detectable luminescence was
observed from the oxide grown on unpatterned regions, where a smaller amoun
t of oxide was excited by the laser beam. The photoluminescence disappeared
when the oxide was removed. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0003
-6951(99)00625-7].