Low-dimensional silicon structures for use in photonic circuits

Over the past two decades, substantial efforts have been placed toward understanding and exploiting light emission in low-dimensional silicon systems due to the technological potential of a Si-based light source for integrated microphotonics. In these low-dimensional systems, quantum confinement leads to a substantial increase in the radiative efficiency of the samples in comparison with bulk silicon, however, the luminescent characteristics of the materials are often strongly dependent on defect states within the system, which in turn often depend on details of the sample fabrication and processing. In this review we consider details of the fabrication, characterization, and applications of various forms of low-dimensional silicon. Recent work aimed at resolving the physics of (i) the nanostructure formation processes and (ii) the luminescence process in these materials are presented and potential applications of Si-nanostructures are discussed. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.