In Situ Photoacoustic Study of Optical Properties of P-Type (111) Porous Silicon Thin Films

Porous silicon (PSi) on p++-type (111) silicon substrate has been fabricated by electronically etching method in hydrofluoric acid (HF) media from 5 to 110 mA/cm2 of anodizing current density. The problem of determining the optical properties of (111) PSi is board through implementing a photoacoustic (PA) technique coupled to an electrochemical cell for real-time monitoring of the formation of porous silicon thin films. PA amplitude allows the calculation of the real part of the films refractive index and porosity using the reflectance self-modulation due to the interference effect between the PSi film and the substrate that produces a periodic PA amplitude. The optical properties are studied from specular reflectance measurements fitted through genetic algorithms, transfer matrix method (TMM), and the effective medium theory, where the Maxwell Garnett (MG), Bruggeman (BR), and Looyenga (LLL) models were tested to determine the most suitable for pore geometry and compared with the in situ PA method. It was found that (111) PSi exhibit a branched pore geometry producing optical anisotropy and high scattering films.