Electroabsorption studies, Bulk silicon
Bulk silicon is an indirect band gap material. When carriers are injected into bulk silicon, electron-hole recombination takes place thermally via phonon exchange, and not by emission of photons. Porous silicon, on the other hand, is a fairly efficient emitter of light in the visible region. Much research is currently under way to find out what makes porous silicon able to emit light. One main theory suggests that the energy bands of bulk silicon may be "squeezed" by being quantum confined, and porous silicon is just an array of quantum silicon wires. Another possibility is that defects in the huge surface area of porous silicon create additional energy bands. These defect energy bands would allow carrier recombination to take place via photon emission. Porous silicon would be very useful as an optically active material. It is compatible with existing silicon electronics and is not expensive to make. The possibility of having all-silicon electrooptic technology puts porous silicon at the focus of much research.
Fewings, Melanie, "An Electroabsorption Study of Porous Silicon" (1996). WWU Honors College Senior Projects. 190.
Subjects - Topical (LCSH)
Porous silicon--Electric properties; Porous silicon--Optical properties
student projects; term papers
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