Photoluminiscence in silicon powder grown by plasma-enhanced chemical-vapour deposition: Evidence of a multistep-multiphoton excitation process

The dynamics of the infrared photoluminescence (PL) in silicon powder grown by plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor deposition (PECVD) of silane is reported. A nonlinear dependence of PL intensity on laser power of the form I a: P" with n as high as 7 has been found, indicating a multistep-multiphoto...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Roura Grabulosa, Pere, Costa i Balanzat, Josep, Sardin, Georges, Morante i Lleonart, Joan Ramon, Bertrán Serra, Enric
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:1994
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/10651
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/10651
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Matèria condensada
Propietats òptiques
Ciència dels materials
Optical properties
Materials science
Condensed matter
Descripción
Sumario:The dynamics of the infrared photoluminescence (PL) in silicon powder grown by plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor deposition (PECVD) of silane is reported. A nonlinear dependence of PL intensity on laser power of the form I a: P" with n as high as 7 has been found, indicating a multistep-multiphoton ex­citation process. To confi.rm this hypothesis a very detailed theoretical and experimental analysis has been performed. As a result, the lifetimes of several levels in the excitation chain have been determined, as well as the optical cross section (u). For the slowest level u= 3 X 10- 18 cm2 and the lifetime is as long as 400 ms. As the energy of the emitted photon is smaller than that of the excitation photon, a model in­volving a considerable nonradiative energy relaxation, together with a tunnel effect is proposed.