Visible Light Emission from Porous Silicon

The aim of this paper is the study of porous Si prepared by preferential anodic dissolution in concentrated HF acid solutions. Porous silicon layers exhibited extremely efficient luminescence in the 700-900 nm range at room temperature. Basic characteristics of this luminescence strongly suggest the intrinsic origin of the process, directly related to quantum confinement. The additional transmission-electron-microscopy and electron-diffraction studies - were performed to support hypothesis that luminescence originates from silicon nanostructures.