Visible luminescence enhancement methods in SiGe/Si heterostructures

Abstract

The possibility of increasing the photoluminescence signal of Si1−xGex/Si quantum wells in the visible spectral range due to a change in the conduction band structure and the interaction of many-body states with plasma oscillations of metal nanoparticles is studied. The sample band structure was controlled using a uniaxial strain of ∼10−4. It is found that such an approach allows an increase in the emission intensity of biexcitons in the quantum well (x = 9%) by a factor of 2.4 at a temperature of 5 K. Metal nanoparticles deposited on the sample surface with a protective layer thickness of 20 nm allowed us to increase the luminescence intensity of quantum wells approximately by a factor of 2.7.