Optical properties of porous Sb-based semiconductors prepared by swift heavy-ion irradiation

由于多孔半导体的微观结构，其物理和化学性质与块体半导体有很大的不同。例如，多孔硅显示出强烈的、光谱可调的发光，而体硅则没有观察到光学活性。多孔性半导体的受控制造为开发新材料提供了可能性，并允许优化其特定的应用性能(例如，用于光电子器件)。有必要深入了解微结构对物理和化学性能的影响，并开发能够控制制备多孔性半导体的工艺技术。最近，帕特里克·克鲁斯等人。(澳大利亚国立大学)发现了一种快速重离子在镓(GaSb)和铟(InSb)中产生令人着迷的多孔结构的过程。该方法非常高效，易于控制，并与当前的制造工艺兼容。然而，几乎没有任何关于多孔锑半导体的光学性质的研究。因此，我们建议在本研究项目中研究微结构对多孔GaSb和InSb光学性质的影响。为了深入了解其潜在的机制，除了光学表征(通过光致发光和拉曼光谱)之外，还需要关于微观结构的详细知识。有关微观结构的信息将通过成像扫描电子显微镜和X射线小角散射相结合的方式获得。

Porous semiconductors differ significantly in their physical and chemical properties from their bulk counterparts, due to their microstructure. Porous silicon, for example, shows an intense, spectrally tunable luminescence while no optical activity is observed for bulk silicon. The controlled fabrication of porous semiconductors opens up the possibility to develop new materials and allows an optimization of their application specific properties (e.g., for optoelectronic devices). It is essential to obtain an in-depth understanding of the influence of the microstructure on the physical and chemical properties and to develop process technologies which allow the controlled preparation of porous semiconductors. Recently, Patrick Kluth et al. (Australian National University) discovered a process by which swift heavy ions generate fascinating porous structures in Galliumantimonide (GaSb) and Indiumantimonide (InSb). The method is very efficient, easy to control and compatible with current manufacturing processes. However, there are hardly any studies on the optical properties of porous, antimony based semiconductors. Thus, we propose to investigate the influence of the microstructure on the optical properties of porous GaSb and InSb within this research project. For an in-depth understanding of the underlying mechanisms, a detailed knowledge about the microstructure is needed in addition to optical characterization (by photoluminescence and Raman spectroscopy). The information about the microstructure will be obtained by a combination of imaging scanning electron microscopy and X-ray small angle scattering.