2.5 eV Pulsed Cathodoluminesce band of silicon dioxide

TL;DR

This study investigates the 2.5 eV pulsed cathodoluminescence band in silicon dioxide, revealing its structure, polarization, and likely origin from non-bridging oxygen centers, across both crystalline and amorphous forms.

Contribution

It provides detailed spectral analysis and identifies the 2.5 eV band as originating from NBO-Li centers, advancing understanding of luminescence in silicon dioxide.

Findings

The 495 nm band is the most intense in disordered SiO2.

The band consists of three peaks with energies related to phonons.

The band is related to bulk emission centers, not surface ones.

Abstract

Room-temperature (RT) Pulsed Cathodoluminescence (PCL) spectra of a set of pure synthetic (both crystalline and amorphous) silicon dioxide materials were studied. It is shown, that the PCL spectra of all samples (both amorphous and crystalline) possess a separate band at 495 nm (2.5 eV). This band is the most intensive one in PCL spectra of disordered materials. The RT PCL band at 495 nm (2.5 eV) of {\alpha}-quartz single crystal is polarized in XY crystalline plane (perpendicular to the $3^{rd}$ order symmetry axis). The structure of this band was detected. It consists of three peaks: at 480$\pm$2 nm (2.58$\pm$0.01 eV), 487$\pm$ nm (2.55$\pm$0.01 eV) and 493$\pm$2 nm (2.52$\pm$0.01 eV). Energy separation between peaks is equal in order of magnitude to energies of $Li_{x}O_{y}$ molecular vibrations and to the energy of optical phonon in {\alpha}-quartz. It is shown, that the emission band at 495 nm (2.5 eV) in RT PCL spectra of {\alpha}-quartz single crystal is related to the bulk emission centers, not to the surface-related ones. The annealing behaviors of the 495 nm (2.5 eV) bands in spectrum of amorphous and crystalline $SiO_{2}$ are close to each other. This fact may be the manifestation of identical origin of these bands. The following explanation of experimental data is proposed: the origin of 495 nm (2.5 eV) band in pure silicon dioxide is related to the recombination of non-bridging oxygen $NBO^{-}-Li^{+}$ centers.