Photoluminescence from Porous-Like SiC and Its Light-Induced Enhancement

Intense photoluminescence (PL) from porous-like SiC has been observed at room temperature. The samples were prepared by electrochemical anodization from nanocrystalline SiC thin films grown on Si (100) substrates in hot filament chemical vapor deposition. It has been found that a light-induced enhancement of the PL intensity will take place if the incident light beam from an He-Cd laser (325nm, 10mW) is employed for the excitation. Blue-shift of the PL peak energy from about 1.9eV of as-anodized samples to about 2.1 eV and an accompanied spectral widening have also been observed for a long enough irradiation time. However, the novel effects have not been observed at low temperature. Origin of the light-induced change is suggested to be related to some light-induced metastable defects.