Preparation and Characterization of Nanostructured Silicon for Optoelectronic Applications

ABSTRACTSilicon is by far the most successful material in the microelectronics industry enjoying a well-established fabrication and processing infrastructure. Two of the main challenges in traditional silicon electronic devices are (a) silicon’s relatively small and indirect fundamental energy band-gap, which severely limits optoelectronic applications, and (b) the absence of a suitable material to form a heterojunction barrier on silicon. Silicon based nanostructures are being explored as potential candidates to extent the applications of silicon in optoelectronics, provide for high-speed silicon quantum devices, increase the efficiency and reduce the cost in silicon photovoltaic solar cells, and facilitate cost-effective silicon sensors for biological, environmental, and other applications. Quantum size silicon nanolayers, nanowires, and nanodots embedded in oxide, nitride, and other amorphous matrices may provide an effective barrier for silicon, as well as band-gap engineering and enhanced optical transitions for solar cell and optoelectronic applications.