Luminescence Activation of Porous Silicon by Post-Anodization Treatment

We prepare “nonluminescing” porous Si by electrochemical etching (50 mA/cm2 in 50% HF diluted 1:1 with ethanol) of 1 Ω-cm (100) p-type wafers in the absence of light in order to study the subsequent luminescence activation by postprocessing. The treatments are: photochemical etching, ageing under ambient conditions, thermal oxidation. The study reveals remarkable inhomogeneities in the depth distribution of the luminescence and allows us to comment on the relative importance of particle size, spin density and chemical composition for the luminescence.