Determination of relative impurity concentrations using photoluminescence: A case study of the Si: (B,In) system

We report on a systematic study of the use of photoluminescence for the determination of relative impurity concentrations. The system chosen for the study was Si with a shallow level, B, in the presence of a deeper level, In. The results show that, at sufficiently low concentrations, the photoluminescence intensities can be used to determine the relative impurity concentrations. At higher In concentrations (NIn ≳1015 cm−3) we find that exciton transfer from B to In results in a quenching of the B photoluminescence intensity. For NIn ≳2×1016 cm−3, B photoluminescence was not observed in any sample studied.