OPTICAL AND STRUCTURAL INVESTIGATION OF STAIN-ETCHED SILICON

We report on optical and vibrational properties of porous silicon (per-Si) layers grown on p-type Si wafers by electroless etching technique. The results indicate a correlation between the photoluminescence (PL) intensity and the multihydride complexes (SiHn with n greater than or equal to 2). However, similar correlation was also found for monohydride species from the layers containing no multihydrides. It is shown that the increase in the amount of oxidation is responsible for broadening of the PL emission band. Furthermore, a new IR absorption band is observed at 710 cm(-1) and assigned to multihydrides suggesting a new local bonding environment for hydrogen atoms in these layers. (C) 1995 American Institute of Physics.