Influence of the nature of oxide matrix on the photoluminescence spectrum of ion-synthesized silicon nanostructures

The photoluminescence of various Si ion implanted oxide layers annealed at high-temperature has been studied in the range of 350–1500 nm. The set of investigated oxide materials includes thermal SiO 2 , deposited SiO 2 , Si 0.9 Ge 0.1 O 2 , GeO 2 films on silicon substrate, and sapphire wafers. The results are discussed in terms of generation and modification of the defect centers and nanoclusters formation taking into account several factors related to composition and structure of the original oxide matrices.