Steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence in microcrystalline silicon

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Abstract
A systematic investigation has been made on steady‐state and time‐resolved photoluminescence (PL) in microcrystalline silicon (μc‐Si) at liquid‐helium temperature. The steady‐state PL spectra on various grain sizes and volume fractions are examined. It is found that the low‐energy emission (∼0.76 eV) arises only from the amorphous phase and not from the crystalline phase and the grain boundary regions. The results indicate that the origin of the luminescence is considered to be due to defects created in the amorphous phase resulting from the microcrystallinity which increase with the grain size and/or the volume fraction. It has been shown from the analysis of the time‐resolved PL measurement that the recombination transition of carriers of the low‐ and the high‐ (∼1.24 eV) energy emissions can be interpreted by a new model.