Nanostructure of porous silicon using transmission microscopy

We use high resolution transmission electron microscopy (XTEM) to image the nanostructure of (100) p-type porous Si. A network of pore tracks subdivide the material into nanoislands and nanocrystallites are resolved through out the material. With distance from the substrate, electron diffraction develops, in addition to coherent diffraction, amorphous-like patterns that dominates the coherent scattering in the topmost luminescent layer. Also, with distance from the substrate, crystalline island size diminishes to as small as 1 nm in the topmost luminescence material. Although their uppermost layer has the most resolved nano crystallites, it has the strongest diffuse scattering of all regions. This suggests that the diffuse scattering is due to a size reduction effects rather than to an amorphous state. We discuss the relevance of a new dimer restructuring model in ultra small nanocrystallites to the loss of crystalline effects.