Luminescence and Surface-State Characteristics in P-Type Porous Silicon

Pulse measurements on the porous-Si/electrolyte system are employed to determine the surface effective area and the surface-state density at various stages of the anodization process used to produce the porous material. Such measurements were combined with studies of the photoluminescence spectra. These spectra were found to shift progressively to the blue as a function of anodization time. The luminescence intensity increases initially with anodization time, reaches a maximum and then decreases with further anodization. The surface state density, on the other hand, increases with anodization time from an initial value of ∼2×1012 cm−2 for the virgin surface to ∼1013 cm−2 for the anodized surface. This value is attained already after ∼2 min anodization and upon further anodization remains fairly constant. In parallel, the effective surface area increases by a factor of 10–30. This behavior is markedly different from the one observed previously for n-type porous Si.