The A, B, C luminescence system from silicon is believed to originate with the radiative decay of an exciton bound to an isoelectronic trap. It was shown previously by Sauer, Weber, and Zulehner [Appl. Phys. Lett. 44, 440 (1984)] that nitrogen is one of the trap constituents. We present experimental evidence that confirms that aluminum is also a trap constituent, suggesting that the trap is an aluminum-nitrogen pair.
Excitons bound to isoelectronic impurity complexes in strained Si1−xGex/Si superlattices (SLs) grown on Si(100) substrates exhibit a novel type of cooperative quantum confinement. The small conduction-band and much larger valence-band offsets in this material system confine an electron much less effectively than a hole. The short-range potential associated with isoelectronic electron traps located within the alloy layers of the SL provides an additional mechanism for localizing electrons within the wells of the SL. We use Be isoelectronic complexes to demonstrate and explore this cooperative confinement of excitons in Si1−xGex/Si superlattices.
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