In this work, the photoluminescence spectra (PL) of porous silicon (PS) have been modified by adding gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) to PS layer. PS was produced via Photo electro-chemical etching (PECE) method of n-type Si wafer with resistivity of about (10 Ω.cm) and (100) orientation. Laser wavelength of (630 nm) and illumination intensity of about (30 mW/cm2), etching current density of (10mA/cm2), and etching time of (4 min) were used during the etching process. The bare PS before metallic deposition process and porous silicon/gold nanoparticles (PS/AuNPs) structures were investigated by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive X-Ray (EDX). The photoluminescence spectra were investigated as a function of gold nanoparticles sizes and distribution on the surface of PS.
It was found that there are two behaviours were observed for the photoluminescence spectra of PS/AuNPs substrate; quenching and enhancement effects based on the average gold nanoparticles sizes and their aggregation forms.