Photoluminescence in dense arrays of silicon nanocrystals: The role of the concentration and average size

Abstract

The computer-assisted Monte Carlo simulation of the photoluminescence kinetics in planar insulator structures with embedded silicon nanocrystals is carried out. In the simulation, the number of nanocrystals in the array was >106. It is shown that, in rather dense arrays, a significant role is played by the processes of energy exchange between neighboring nanocrystals, resulting in the elimination of smaller nanocrystals from the luminescence process and in a noticeable decrease in the integrated luminescence intensity. Nonexponential decay of the luminescence intensity is established. Such character of the decay is attributed to different relaxation processes prevailing at different stages of system's evolution. © 2013 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.