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Synthesis and photoluminescence properties of silicon nanowires treated by high‐pressure water vapor annealing
Author(s) -
Salhi B.,
Gelloz B.,
Koshida N.,
Patriarche G.,
Boukherroub R.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
physica status solidi (a)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.532
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1862-6319
pISSN - 1862-6300
DOI - 10.1002/pssa.200674321
Subject(s) - photoluminescence , materials science , annealing (glass) , silane , amorphous solid , silicon , nanowire , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , porous silicon , nanoparticle , catalysis , optoelectronics , crystallography , metallurgy , composite material , chemistry , organic chemistry , engineering
This paper reports on silicon nanowires (SiNWs) growth on porous silicon (PS) template using vapor‐liquid‐solid (VLS) technique and the effect of high‐pressure water vapor annealing (HWA) on their optical properties. Gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) with average mean diameter of 50 and 20 nm were used as catalysts. The SiNWs were obtained by thermal decomposition of silane gas (SiH 4 ) at high temperature (540 °C) catalyzed by the Au NPs. The resulting nanostructures display comparable diameter to the initial gold catalysts and are few microns long without a preferential growth direction. We have next examined the optical properties of the 20 nm diameter SiNWs. As‐prepared SiNWs display a weak photoluminescence (PL), which is related to the recombination emissions from defect centers. High‐pressure water vapor annealing (HWA) at 260 °C and 2.6 MPa of the SiNWs led to an increase of the PL by a factor 10 without significant changes in the emission band. TEM analysis of the HWA‐treated SiNWs showed a crystalline silicon core surrounded by an amorphous oxide layer. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)