Photoluminescence Properties of LaF3-Coated Porous Silicon

This work reports the coating of porous silicon (PS) with LaF3 and its influence on the photoluminescence (PL) property of PS. PS samples, prepared by electrochemical etching in a solution of HF and ethanol, were coated with e-beam evaporated-LaF3 of different thicknesses. It was observed that the thin LaF3 layer on PS led to a good enhancement of PL yield of PS. But with the increasing thickness of LaF3 layer PL intensity of PS was decreasing along with a small blue-shift. It was also observed that all the coated samples showed degradation in PL intensity with time, but annealing could recover and stabilize the degraded PL.