Visible Photoluminescence from Silicon Nanoclusters

In this work we present a study of the photoluminescence properties of the nanocomposite layers with silicon nanoclusters. The nanocomposite layer is the SiO2 insulator matrix with embedded silicon nanoclusters. The sizes of nanoclusters were under 100 A. The nanocomposite layers were grown on the silicon and supphire substrates by rf magnetron sputtering of the quartz target with the silicon pieces on the quartz surface. The observed photoluminescence was intense, in visible part of spectrum and at room temperature. The intensity and the position of photoluminescence peak were depended on the annealing conditions. We believe that the photoluminescence from silicon nanoclusters is due to quantum size effect in silicon nanoclusters. The compatibility of nanocomposite technology with VLSI indicates that nanocomposite layers with silicon nanoclusters is a very interesting candidate as active material for siliconbased opto-electronics.