Visible photoluminescence of nanopowder of silicon, produced by silicon evaporation by powerful electron beam

The silicon nanopowders, formed by the silicon massive sample evaporation by the electron beam in the argon atmosphere, are studied through the methods of the photoluminescence (PL) and combination light scattering (CS). The PL peak is identified at the room temperature in the visible spectral range of the powders, consisting of the silicon nanocrystals. The PL peak strong short-wave shift may be explained as the effect of the electrons and holes dimensional quantization in the silicon small-size (about 2 nm) nanocrystals. The silicon nanocrystals dimensions are determined through the analytical data on the CS photoluminescence and they coincided with the evaluations based on the photoluminescence data