Photoluminescence properties of Tb3+ in porous silicon

Terbium (Tb3+)/porous silicon (PS) nanocomposites have been formed by impregnation of PS layer in chloride solution of terbium. Complete and uniform penetration of Tb3+ into PS layer is confirmed by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) study. Photoluminescence (PL) spectrum shows that Tb3+ ions emit highly in the green region, while the PL band of PS is quenched. The emission of Tb3+ ions depends strongly on the excitation energy and shows a high efficiency at 488 nm corresponding to the maximum absorption band in terbium. A systematic study of the PL versus annealing temperature was performed. It shows an important improvement of the PL intensity for 700°C temperature annealing.