Roughness of silicon nanowire sidewalls and room temperature photoluminescence

Vladimir A. Sivakov, Felix Voigt, Andreas Berger, Gottfried Bauer, and Silke H. Christiansen

Phys. Rev. B 82, 125446 – Published 27 September 2010

Abstract

Strong room temperature visible (red-orange) photoluminescence (PL) has been observed in silicon nanowires (SiNWs) that were realized by wet chemical etching of heavily (arsenic, As: $10^{20} {cm}^{- 3}$ ) and lowly doped (boron, B: $10^{15} {cm}^{- 3}$ ) single crystalline silicon (Si) wafers. Optical characterization of these SiNWs by PL combined with structural characterization by transmission and scanning electron microscopy strongly suggest that the visible PL at room temperature results from the rough SiNW sidewall structure that is composed of nanoscale features in which quantum confinement effects may occur.

Received 19 March 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.82.125446

Authors & Affiliations

Vladimir A. Sivakov^1,*,†, Felix Voigt^1,2, Andreas Berger^1,3, Gottfried Bauer², and Silke H. Christiansen^1,4,‡

¹Institute of Photonic Technology, Albert Einstein Str. 9, D-07745 Jena, Germany
²University of Oldenburg, Institute of Physics, Carl-von-Ossietzky-Straße 9-11, D-26129 Oldenburg, Germany
³Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Weinberg 2, D-06120 Halle (Saale), Germany
⁴Max Planck Institut für die Physik des Lichts, Günther Scharowsky Str. 1, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany

^*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
^†vladimir.sivakov@ipht-jena.de
^‡FAX: +49 (0) 3641/206-499; sechrist@mpi-halle.mpg.de

Article Text (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

Issue

Vol. 82, Iss. 12 — 15 September 2010

Reuse & Permissions

Access Options

Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Physical Review B

covering condensed matter and materials physics