Structural and photoluminescent properties of nanowires formed by the metal-assisted chemical etching of monocrystalline silicon with different doping level

Silicon-nanowire layers grown by the metal-assisted chemical etching of (100)-oriented p-type monocrystalline silicon substrates with a resistivity of 10 and 0.001 Ω · cm are studied by electron microscopy, Raman scattering, and photoluminescence measurements. It is established that nanowires grown on lightly doped substrates are structurally nonporous and formed as crystalline cores covered by nanocrystals 3–5 nm in dimensions. Nanowires grown on heavily doped substrates are structurally porous and contain both small nanocrystals and coarser crystallites with equilibrium charge carriers that influence interband radiative recombination. It is found that the photoluminescence intensity of nanowires in the spectral range 1.3–2.0 eV depends on the presence of molecular oxygen