Analysis of electrical and optical properties of silicon nanoclusters using flicker-noise spectroscopy

This paper presents the results of a study on the electrical properties, ch emical composition and photoluminescence from silicon nanocrystals produced by electrochemical etching of silicon wafers. A new phenomenological tool, known as flicker-noise spectroscopy (FNS), was used to analyze the experim ental data. The electrical and optical signals from silicon nanoclusters ar e quite noisy. We show that FNS can be applied efficiently in analysis of t hese signals, allowing one to obtain significant information on the nature of dynamic microscopic processes assisting the flow of the electric current and emission of light from silicon clusters. The FNS method is also suitab le for resolving the problem of the irreproducibility of the properties of nanostructured materials and devices, Deviations in size, local chemical im purities, structural defects and other micro-inhomogeneities strongly influ ence the output signals from nanostructures and make their characteristics poorly reproducible. The FNS approach makes it possible to scale the output information from nanostructured devices to a level where these deviations and irreproducibilities are no longer important, Copyright (C) 2001 John Wi ley & Sons, Ltd.