TY - JOUR
T1 - Synthesis and luminescence of silicon remnants formed by truncated glassmelt-particle reaction
AU - Risbud, Subhash H.
AU - Liu, Li-Chi
AU - Shackelford, James F.
PY - 1993/12/1
Y1 - 1993/12/1
N2 - We have obtained nanometer sized silicon remnants sequestered in glass matrices by terminating the reaction of pure silicon powders dispersed in the viscous melt at a temperature of 1400°C. Repeated use of this truncated melt-particle reaction process dilutes the amount and size of silicon remnants, and bulk samples containing nanosize silicon crystallites embedded in a glass matrix were eventually obtained. These quantum dot sized silicon-in-glass materials emit greenish luminescence with peak wavelengths from ≊480 to 530 nm, considerably shorter than the reddish luminescence (at about 700-850 nm) observed in porous silicon structures prepared by electrochemical etching techniques; upon complete digestion of Si particles by the melt, the luminescence peaks disappear. Since our silicon-in-glass preparation method does not involve etching, the origin of the luminescence is not likely to be due to Si-O-H compounds (e.g., siloxene) postulated recently. The location of the luminescence peaks and the observed silicon crystallite size suggest quantum confinement leading to a widened silicon band gap arising from remnants in the glass matrix smaller than the exciton diameter of bulk silicon (10 nm).
AB - We have obtained nanometer sized silicon remnants sequestered in glass matrices by terminating the reaction of pure silicon powders dispersed in the viscous melt at a temperature of 1400°C. Repeated use of this truncated melt-particle reaction process dilutes the amount and size of silicon remnants, and bulk samples containing nanosize silicon crystallites embedded in a glass matrix were eventually obtained. These quantum dot sized silicon-in-glass materials emit greenish luminescence with peak wavelengths from ≊480 to 530 nm, considerably shorter than the reddish luminescence (at about 700-850 nm) observed in porous silicon structures prepared by electrochemical etching techniques; upon complete digestion of Si particles by the melt, the luminescence peaks disappear. Since our silicon-in-glass preparation method does not involve etching, the origin of the luminescence is not likely to be due to Si-O-H compounds (e.g., siloxene) postulated recently. The location of the luminescence peaks and the observed silicon crystallite size suggest quantum confinement leading to a widened silicon band gap arising from remnants in the glass matrix smaller than the exciton diameter of bulk silicon (10 nm).
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U2 - 10.1063/1.110724
DO - 10.1063/1.110724
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:36449001096
VL - 63
SP - 1648
EP - 1650
JO - Applied Physics Letters
JF - Applied Physics Letters
SN - 0003-6951
IS - 12
ER -