Naturally oxidized freestanding silicon nanocrystals （Si NCs） are incorporated in commonly used encapsulating materials to explore the photoluminescent application of Si NCs in device structures such as solid-state lighting light-emitting diodes （LEDs） and solar cells. The quantum yield of Si NCs before the incorporation has reached about 45% at the excitation wavelength of 370 nm without any special surface modification. It is found that medium Ioadings, e.g., 5 wt% of Si NCs in encapsulating materials help to obtain high external quantum efficiency （EQE） of the mixtures of Si NCs and encapsulating materials. The curing of encapsulating materials significantly reduces EQE. Among all the encapsulating materials investigated in this work, silicone- OE6551 enables the highest EQE （21% at excitation wavelength λex = 370 nm） after curing. Based on current findings, we have discussed the continuous efforts to advance the photoluminescent application of Si NCs.
The precipitation and gettering behaviors of copper （Cu） at different defective regions in multicrystalline silicon were investigated by combining scanning infrared microscopy, optical microscopy, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and microwave photo-conductance decay. It is found that the behaviors of Cu precipitation are strongly dependent on the defect density. Most of the Cu contaminants tend to form precipitates homogeneously in the low density defect region, while they mostly segregate at the defects and form precipitates heterogeneously in the high density defect region. In the case of heavy contamination, the Cu precipitate can significantly reduce the carrier lifetime of multicrystalline silicon due to their Schottkydiode behavior in the silicon substrate. A 900 °C rap thermal process （RTP） phosphorus gettering anneal cannot be sufficiently effective to remove the Cu precipitates in these two regions.
