Temperature dependence of photoluminescence in non-crystalline silicon

Abstract

Crystalline silicon being ubiquitous throughout the microelectronics industry has an indirect bandgap, and therefore is incapable of light emission. However, strong room temperature visible and near-IR luminescence from non-crystalline silicon, e.g., amorphous silicon, porous silicon, and black silicon, has been observed. These silicon based materials are morphologically similar to each other, and have similar luminescence properties. We have studied the temperature dependence of the photoluminescence from these non-crystalline silicons to fully characterize and optimize these materials in the pursuit of obtaining novel optoelectronic devices.