Induction of light emission from porous silicon

The induction of light emission from silicon, an indirect band gap material in which radiative transitions are unlikely, raises several interesting and technologically important possibilities, first of all the fabrication of an integrated optoelectronic microchip. In this article, it is illustrated the constraints that prevent silicon from emitting light effectively and show how room temperature, light emission from the infrared to the ultraviolet region can be induced by etching nanometer-scale structures onto silicon substrate to form porous silicon