Origin of the visible emission of black silicon microstructures
Abstract
Silicon, the mainstay semiconductor in microelectronics, is considered unsuitable for optoelectronic applications due to its indirect electronic band gap that limits its efficiency as light emitter. Here, we univocally determine at the nanoscale the origin of visible emission in microstructured black silicon by cathodoluminescence spectroscopy and imaging. We demonstrate the formation of amorphous silicon oxide microstructures with a white emission. The white emission is composed by four features peaking at 1.98 eV, 2.24 eV, 2.77 eV, and 3.05 eV. The origin of such emissions is related to SiOx intrinsic point defects and to the sulfur doping due to the laser processing. Similar results go in the direction of developing optoelectronic devices suitable for silicon-based circuitry.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Jul 13, 2015
- Source ID
- 10.1063/1.4926912
Entities
People
- Eric Mazur
- Filippo Fabbri
- Francesca Rossi
- Giancarlo Salviati
- Giovanni Bertoni
- Matthew J. Smith
- Silvija Gradečak
- Yu-ting Lin
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Harvard University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology