Special correlation of photoluminescent peak of porous silicon with its resistivity

Porous silicon (PS) layers were formed on p-type textured Si wafers of orientation < 100 > and 1 Omega m resistivity electrochemically in 1:2 solution of HF:C2H5OH at 25 degrees C at a constant current density of 20 mA/cm(2) for etching durations (t(e)) from 20 s to 20 min. The wafers had an Al ohmic contact on the back surface. The photoluminescent spectra of the PS layers were measured under excitation radiation of 405 nm wavelength. All PS layers formed above the etching duration t(e) >= 2 min were found to be photoluminescent with PL peak lying between 626 and 675 nm wavelengths. The PL intensity increased with increase in t(e), for 2 < t(e) < 8 min and decreased with t(e) after having exhibited maximal value for t(e) = 8 min. The thickness of the PS layers was found to exhibit similar behavior with t(e) showing a maximal value for t(e) = 8 min. The contacts on the same PS layers were made over an area of 1 cm(2) by vacuum evaporated Pd metal layers and the current voltage (I-V) characteristics were measured in the Pd/PS/Si/Al sandwich configuration at different temperatures in 20-40 degrees C range. The resistances of the PS layers were determined from the decrease of the slopes of their forward I-V characteristics. The resistivities of PS layers were obtained using the measured resistance data and thickness values. The resistivity values were much greater than the intrinsic resistivity of monocrystalline silicon. The resistivity increased with etching time and attained a maximum value of 2.88 x 10(14) Omega cm for t(e) = 8 min and then decreased for further increase in t(e). The PS layers behaved as intrinsic semiconductor layers and the values of the band gap E-g and the corresponding wavelengths (lambda(g)) determined from the resistivity (rho) matched extremely well with the peak PL emission wavelengths. The most resistive PS layer was found to be the most efficient PL emitter. Resistances of PS layers decreased with temperature. However, the values of activation energies obtained from resistance vs. temperature data of different PS samples were much smaller than the E-g/2 values. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved..