Photoluminescence properties of porous silicon layers prepared by electrochemical etching in extremely dilute HF solutions

Dilute HF solutions with concentrations down to 0.03% have been used to obtain luminescent porous silicon (PSi) layers on p-type Si wafers. The experimental results show that with a constant etching time of 30 min, PSi layers with sufficient luminescence efficiencies can be formed for HF concentrations as low as 0.1%. Because of a significantly lowered critical current density, only very low etching current densities of  ≤0.1 mA cm⁻² can result in the formation of luminescent PSi samples in 0.1% HF solutions. A notable result is that these low etching current densities cannot be used to form luminescent PSi layers in concentrated ( ≥1%) HF solutions. The behavior of PL intensity as a function of etching current density has been analyzed over a wide range of HF concentration. The PL intensity is determined by the ratio of the etching current density to the critical current density, suggesting that the presence of silicon oxides plays an important role in the formation of luminescent Si nanostructures in PSi layers.