Dislocation-related luminescence properties of silicon

Photoluminescence bands at 0.778 eV and 0.85 eV are greatly enhanced after low-temperature heat treatment of plastically deformed silicon. Hydrogen passivation of the samples resulted in a reversible distribution of the photoluminescence spectrum, which has been attributed to the passivation of defect levels created during heat treatment. The temperature and doping properties of the emissions suggested that the new emissions originate from electronic transitions between defect levels in the upper half of the energy gap and dislocation-related energy levels. A tentative model of pair recombination between oxygen-related donors and dislocation accepters has been tested. Using this model and comparing calculated and measured spectra, the energy position of the D1 dislocation acceptor was found to be about 0.36 eV above the valence band.