Correlation of surface morphology with luminescence of porous Si films by scanning tunneling microscopy

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Abstract
The evolution of visible photoluminescence is demonstrated by measuring the surface morphology of thin (∼20 nm) electrochemically etched porous silicon (PS) films with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Using low current densities, three sorts of samples were prepared under different conditions: In the dark (A), under illumination with ultraviolet (UV) light (B), and in the dark followed by a postphotochemical treatment (C). Upon UV light excitation, type A samples do not emit visible light, while samples of type B and C show weak and efficient photoluminescence in the visible range, respectively. STM imaging of these PS layers reveals a considerable decrease in the lateral dimensions of the surface features from approximately 10 nm (type A) to roughly 2 nm (type C), in accordance with the quantum confinement approach in describing the luminescence properties.