Photoluminescence from Si nanocrystals embedded in In2O3/SiO2 glass thin films

The photoluminescence (PL) properties of Si nanocrystals embedded in In2O3/SiO2 thin films are studied. The PL properties strongly depend on In and excess Si concentrations. For the samples with an excess Si concentration larger than 3.4 at. %, the PL intensity increases as In concentration increases up to 0.46 at. %, while the PL decay rate is nearly constant. This suggests that the number of Si nanocrystals contributing to the PL increases. On the other hand, when the excess Si concentration is low (1.4 at. %), the PL intensity monotonically decreases with increasing In concentration. The decrease in the PL intensity is accompanied by the increase in a decay rate, indicating that the nonradiative recombination process is introduced by In doping.