Changes in the surface electronic states of semiconductor fine particles induced by high energy ion irradiation

The changes in the surface electronic states of Q-sized semiconductor particles in Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films, induced by high energy ion irradiation, were examined by observation of ion induced emission and photoluminescence (PL). Various emission bands attributed to different defect sites in the band gap were observed at the initial irradiation stage. As the dose increased, the emissions via the trapping sites decreased in intensity while the band-edge emission developed. This suggests that the ion irradiation would remove almost all the trapping sites in the band gap. The low energy emissions, which show a multiexponential decay, were due to a donor-acceptor recombination between the deeply trapped carriers. It was found that the processes of formation, reaction, and stabilization of the trapping sites would predominantly occur under the photooxidizing conditions. (author)