Silicon Nanocrystals: From Indirect to Direct Bandgap

Silicon nanocrystals are very interesting light-emitting materials due to the abundance and low inherent toxicity of silicon. Although the ability of silicon in the form of nanocrystals to emit light has been known for more than 25 years now, the fundamental research still has not answered all the questions regarding the origin of this light emission. In this paper, a brief summary of what is known about light emission of this material is provided and some of the recent developments in this field are highlighted.