Effect of X-ray irradiation on the blinking of single silicon nanocrystals

Photoluminescence (PL) intermittency (blinking) observed for single silicon nanocrystals (Si‐NCs) embedded in oxide is usually attributed to trapping/de‐trapping of carriers in the vicinity of the NC. Following this model, we propose that blinking could be modified by introducing new trap sites, for...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physica status solidi. A, Applications and materials science Applications and materials science, 2015-12, Vol.212 (12), p.2692-2695
Main Authors: Pevere, Federico, Bruhn, Benjamin, Sangghaleh, Fatemeh, Hormozan, Yashar, Sychugov, Ilya, Linnros, Jan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Blinking
Food irradiation
Irradiation
Luminescence
Nanocrystals
Oxides
photoluminescence
Silicon
Switching
X-ray irradiation
X-rays
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Photoluminescence (PL) intermittency (blinking) observed for single silicon nanocrystals (Si‐NCs) embedded in oxide is usually attributed to trapping/de‐trapping of carriers in the vicinity of the NC. Following this model, we propose that blinking could be modified by introducing new trap sites, for example, via X‐rays. In this work, we present a study of the effect of X‐ray irradiation (up to 65 kGy in SiO2) on the blinking of single Si‐NCs embedded in oxide nanowalls. We show that the luminescence characteristics, such as spectrum and life‐time, are unaffected by X‐rays. However, substantial changes in ON‐state PL intensity, switching frequency, and duty cycle emerge from the blinking traces, while the ON‐ and OFF‐ time distributions remain of mono‐exponential character. Although we do not observe a clear monotonic dependence of the blinking parameters on the absorbed dose, our study suggests that, in the future, Si‐NCs could be blinking‐engineered via X‐ray irradiation.
ISSN:1862-6300
1862-6319
1862-6319
DOI:10.1002/pssa.201532652