Photoluminescence studies of Sn quantum dots in Si grown by MBE

A few nanometer thick Sn _xSi _1−x layers with x ⩽ 0.1 grown on silicon (1 0 0) surfaces can be used to form tin (α-Sn) quantum dots as a result of heat treatment of such structures up to 800 °C. These quantum dots with a well-defined shape are expected to be a candidate for obtaining a low-energy direct band gap structure in Si. Absorption measurements reported by Ragan et al. have shown the onset of absorption at 0.27 eV indicating that the MBE-grown α-Sn quantum dots could be used, e.g. in infrared detectors or emitters. We have performed low temperature photoluminescence (PL) studies of some of the structures produced in this first study and observed no emission peak near 0.27 eV. The PL spectra are instead characterised by a broadband emission in the range 0.7–1 eV. Furthermore there are narrow features that have previously been described as the 789 meV C–O band and 1018 meV W or I1 band. The broad emission at 0.7–1 eV is attributed to the presence of defects introduced by the grown layers, which have suppressed the emission peaks related to the substrate as well. We have also grown α-Sn quantum dot samples on Si (1 0 0) substrates with very low doping concentrations. These samples show PL spectra with Si-substrate related peaks and a relatively lower broad feature at 0.7–1 eV. However, no emission was observed near 0.27 eV.