Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2011
Time resolved photoluminescence (PL) decays have been measured for Si nanocrystals embedded in silicon dioxide. The nanocrystals were formed by Si implantation followed by thermal annealing at 800 – 1200 °C. The observed PL peaked in the wavelength range 640 – 850 nm and the PL decay exhibited a stretched exponential lineshape, characterized by a relatively large time constant. A nonlinear dose dependence of the PL yield and an observed redshifting for increasing doses and/or higher annealing temperatures is discussed in terms of a nucleation and growth mechanism for the nanocrystals. Finally, we argue that Auger recombination is effective at high excitation densities explaining a wavelength dependent saturation of the PL intensity.