title: Self-assembled growth and blue emission of a SiO(x)-capped (x = 0.5-0.8) silicon nanowire array.
abstract: A uniquely structured SiO(x)-capped (x = 0.5-0.8) Si nanowire array with strong blue emission, like a nanobeacon array, was fabricated using electroless metal (silver) deposition on a water plasma-treated Si wafer. Formation of the nanoscale light source array can be understood on the basis of a self-assembled localized microscopic electrochemical cell model and a diffusion-limited aggregation process. Photoluminescence spectral analysis reveals that the intensity of the broad blue-emitting luminescent band centred at around 435 nm strongly depends upon the irradiation of H(2)O(+), HO(+), and O(+) ions, which are present in the water plasma. We attribute the blue PL band to the optical transition of the self-trapped excitons at the surfaces of SiO(x) nanocaps.
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures and Department of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, People's Republic of China. Department of Physics and Materials Science, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.forename: X L
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Y T
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Y F
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Mei
authors.forename: G G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Siu
authors.forename: Paul K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Chu