[5, 32] (Figure 6a). At the same time, the PL component peaked at 700 to 750 nm can be attributed to the defects located at Si-nc/MK5108 order matrix interface because slight increase of its maximum magnitude is apparently due to overlapping with

near-infrared component which intensity increases with cooling (Figure 6a, curve 3). Based on the PL results, one can conclude that the main contribution to the PL spectra in our samples is given by the carrier recombination through different defects. The high concentration of interface and matrix defect (in particular, the high intensity of PL band at 700 to 750 nm) obviously hinders the observation of exciton recombination. Conclusions Selleckchem OSI-027 The effect of annealing treatment on structural and light emission properties of Si phase-rich Al2O3 films with different Si contents was investigated. The formation of amorphous Si clusters upon deposition process was observed for the films with x ≥ 0.38. The annealing results in the formation check details of Si crystallites whose mean size depends on the type of post-deposition treatment. The conventional annealing of the samples with

x = 0.5 to 0.68 causes the formation of Si-ncs with the mean size of about 14 nm, whereas similar samples submitted to rapid thermal annealing show the presence of Si-ncs with sizes of about 5 nm. Two main broad PL bands were observed in the 500- to 900-nm spectral range with peak positions at 575 to 600 nm and 700 to 750 nm as well as near-infrared tail. The low-temperature measurements revealed that the first PL band was unchanged with cooling, while the slight increase of maximum intensity of the second one was obviously due to overlapping with near-infrared band. Such behavior of visible PL bands differs from that expected for quantum

confined Si-ncs that allowed ascribing them to interface and/or matrix defects. At the same time, the analysis of PL spectrum shape allows ascribing the near-infrared PL component (780 to 900 nm) to the exciton recombination inside Si-ncs. Acknowledgments This work was supported by the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Ministry of Art and Science of Israel. One of the authors (LK) would like to acknowledge also the French National Research Agency for partial financial support. References 1. Canham LT: Silicon quantum wire array fabrication Protein kinase N1 by electrochemical and chemical dissolution of wafers. Appl Phys Lett 1990, 57:1046–1048.CrossRef 2. Lehman V, Gosele U: Porous silicon formation: a quantum wire effect. Appl Phys Lett 1991, 58:856–858.CrossRef 3. Shimizu-Iwayama T, Nakao S, Saitoh K: Visible photoluminescence in Si + -implanted thermal oxide films on crystalline Si. Appl Phys Lett 1994, 65:1814–1816.CrossRef 4. Chen XY, Lu YF, Tang LJ, Wu YH, Cho BJ, Xu XJ, Dong JR, Song WD: Annealing and oxidation of silicon oxide films prepared by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition.