Quantum confinement effects observed by the photoluminescence of SiOx/SiO2 multilayers

Spectral and decay features related to the red emission from Si nanocrystals were investigated by time-resolved photoluminescence spectra carried out on SiOx/SiO2 nanosized multilayers. On decreasing the SiOx thickness from 8.4 nm to 2.2 nm this luminescence band exhibits a blue-shift from 1.65 eV to 1.75 eV and its lifetime increases from 12μs to 17 μs. These results are discussed on the basis of previous models proposed in literature and agree with quantum confinement effects arising from differently sized Si nanocrystals in our samples.