Temperature-Dependent Photoluminescence of Silicon Nanoporous Pillar Array
LI Yong1,2, WANG Xiao-Bo1,3, FAN Zhi-Qiang1, LI Xin-Jian1**
1Department of Physics and Laboratory of Material Physics, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052 2Department of Physics and Solar Energy Research Center, Pingdingshan University, Pingdingshan 467000 3Department of Physics, Anyang Normal University, Anyang 455000
Abstract：Silicon nanoporous pillar array (Si-NPA) is a micron-nanometer hierarchical structure which might be used as functional substrates for constructing optoelectronic nanodevices. This makes understanding the photoluminescence (PL) from Si-NPA important. We measure the PL of Si-NPA in the range of 11–300 K. By analyzing the evolution of the peak energy and intensity with temperature, the ultraviolet, blue, orange and red PL bands from Si-NPA are attributed to the radiative recombination through the deep-levels in silicon oxide, oxygen-related defect states in silicon nanocrystallites (nc-Si), band-to-band transition within nc-Si, and surface/interface states of nc-Si or between nc-Si and SiOx, respectively. At least two non-radiative recombination processes, which are activated at different temperature ranges, are proposed for the PL intensity variation with temperature. These results might provide strong foundations for designing and constructing optoelectronic devices based on silicon nanostructures.
2014, Vol. 31 
