Porous silicon: A route towards a Si-based photonics?

By partial anodic dissolution of Si, it is possible to form an efficient room-temperature luminescent material named porous silicon (p-Si). In this paper the properties of p-Si are reviewed with special emphasis on the growth issue and on its application to light emitting diodes. The physical processes at the base of the luminescence are also discussed. It is suggested that the p-Si luminescence results from radiative recombination of excitons quantum confined in Si nano-crystals.