Role of defects in Si/SiO2 quantum wells

Abstract The optical properties of Si/SiO 2 superlattices (SLs) as a function of the Si layer thickness have been, for the first time, theoretically investigated. Through ab initio calculations we consider fully passivated structures, the presence of O vacancy at the Si/SiO 2 interface or in the SiO 2 matrix. We find that quantum confined states and O-related defect states play a key role in the experimentally observed visible luminescence in Si/SiO 2 confined systems.