Effects of defect, carrier concentration and annealing process on the photoluminescence of silicon pn diodes

Silicon pn diodes were fabricated by ion implantation of B and P ions with different doses and subsequent annealing processes. Room temperature photoluminescence (PL) were investigated and the factors affecting the PL intensity were analyzed. Results show that both kinds of pn diodes have PL peak centered at about 1140 nm. Dislocation loops resulted from ion implantation and annealing process may enhance the light emission of silicon pn diode due to its band quantum confinement effect to carriers. The luminescence intensity depends on the carrier concentrations in the implantation region. It should be controlled at the range of 1–6×1016 cm−3. Moreover, the PL intensities of pn diodes with furnace annealing (FA) are higher than those with rapid thermal annealing, and the annealing temperature range for FA is 900–1100 °C.