Photoluminescence studies on porous silicon

We have measured the temperature dependence of the photoluminescence of porous silicon and have found that it disagrees with the expected behavior of crystalline or amorphous silicon. We also found that soaking the samples in oxygen and simultaneously illuminating them with light results in the quenching of the photoluminescence. We propose that luminescence in porous silicon may actually be luminescence from molecules attached to the Si surface, rather than any previously assumed quantum size effect.