Luminescence of silicon nanoparticles from oxygen implanted silicon

Abstract Oxygen with a kinetic energy of 20 keV is implanted in a silicon wafer (100) at different fluences, followed by post-implantation thermal annealing (PIA) performed at temperatures ranging from 1000 to 1200 °C, in order to form luminescent silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs) and also to reduce the damage induced by the implantation. As a result of this procedure, a surface SiO x layer (with 0  2 environment. The physical structure of the implanted Si wafer is examined by grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD). Photoluminescence (PL) techniques, including PL spectroscopy, time-resolved PL (TRPL), and photoluminescence excitation (PLE) spectroscopy are carried out in order to identify the PL origin. The results show that luminescent SiNPs are formed in a Si sample implanted by oxygen with a fluence of 2 × 10 17 atoms cm −2 and PIA at 1000 °C. These SiNPs have a broad size range of 6–24 nm, as evaluated from the GIXRD result. Samples implanted at a lower fluence and/or annealed at higher temperature show only weak defect-related PL. With further optimization of the SiNP luminescence, the method may offer a simple route for integration of luminescent Si in mainstream semiconductor fabrication.