Positron annihilation investigation of porous silicon heat treated to 1000 °C

Positron lifetime and Doppler broadening spectroscopies were applied to investigate a porous silicon film subjected to heat treatment in an argon atmosphere. Heating between 300 and 500 °C increased the mass of the film by 17% due to oxygen uptake and the concentration of open volume defects associated with the formation of an oxide layer on the silicon nanocrystallites increased by a factor of 3. Between 600 and 1000 °C their concentration decreased gradually to 1/2 the original concentration. Doppler broadening results indicate two distinct electron momentum distributions, one arising from open volume defects and one from pickoff annihilation of positronium at the pore walls caused by electrons with an unexpectedly narrow momentum distribution.