Optimized light emission from layered porous silicon structures

Abstract

We discuss in detail the physics of light emission from porous silicon microcavities formed by periodically modulating the porosity to produce multilayered structures. Changing the porosity alters not only the refractive index and absorption but also the luminescence, resulting in a complex interplay of effects that has not yet been addressed in the literature as far as we know. A transfer matrix model is developed that accounts for the dispersion of the refractive index, absorption, and photoluminescence. A multilayer porous silicon mirror is found to emit light almost as well as a conventional distributed feedback microcavity system with a mid-stop-band resonant state.