Optical Properties of Low Dimensional Silicon Structures

Describing the state of the art on the luminescent properties of porous silicon, this text presents the dramatic results of the major international laboratories and groups working in this subject. The majority of the paticipants agree that a quantum confinement effect and a good passivation of the surface crystallites are responsible for the observed luminescence properties. New characterization techniques are presented as a comprehensive survey of the theoretical models. Both efficient and wavelength tunable electroluminescence are demonstrated using liquid contacts and a cathodic injection system. Localized cathodoluminescence in a scanning electron miscroscope and a scanning tunnelling microscope is also presented. This book demonstrates that a consensus is emerging on the origin of the visible luminescence of highly porous Si. This nanostructure is extending knowledge of this area of solid state physics.