Red light emission from controlled multilayer stack comprising of thin amorphous silicon and silicon nitride layers

The authors demonstrate photoluminescence from a multilayer stack comprising of thin amorphous silicon/silicon nitride multilayer stack. The peak emission wavelength is in the visible wavelength range (lambda=674-706 nm). The authors show that emission originates from the quantum confinement of the amorphous silicon layers. They demonstrate the tunability of the peak emission wavelength by controlling the amorphous silicon layer thickness. Postdeposition annealing was carried out to enhance the photoluminescence without recrystallization of the amorphous silicon layers as confirmed by transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Such multilayer structure should be advantageous for electrical injection of carriers due to the thin dielectric layers (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.