Visible photo- and electroluminescence from electrochemically formed nanocrystalline Si thin film

Abstract
Visible photo‐ (PL) and electroluminescence (EL) were observed at room temperature from nanocrystalline Si (nc‐Si) thin film; nc‐Si was electrochemically formed in HF aqueous solution from boron doped microcrystalline Si (μc‐Si) deposited by a rf plasma chemical vapor deposition method on a glass substrate with a SnO2 transparent conductive layer. From the scanning electron microscope images, the ‘‘pore’’ structure is not found on the surface of the nc‐Si thin film. PL occurs with a broadband spectrum peaking at an energy around 1.7 eV and its spectral shape resembles that of conventional porous Si made from a crystalline Si substrate. The dependence of PL intensity on crystalline volume fraction in μc‐Si implies that the quantum size effects operate in the emission process in nc‐Si. Visible EL emission was observed in a pin heterostructured diode consisting of the nc‐Si and amorphous layers with the spectral peak energy of 1.8 eV.

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