Tunable Luminescence of Silicon Nanoparticles

The luminescent properties of silicon nanoparticles were studied. The particles were prepared by laser pyrolysis of silane in a gas flow reactor. Initially non‐luminescent particles were treated by the chemical etching in mixture of fluoric and nitric acids. The high and stable photoluminescence from etched particles was observed. With increasing etching time, the PL peak shifted to blue region. With decreasing of the excitation wavelength from 660 nm to 365 nm, the PL peak shifted from 820 nm to 660 nm. This allows us to use the silicon based particles for wavelength selected excitation in some practical application.