Observation of Quantum Confinement Effects with cmd="newline" Ultrashort Excitation in the Vicinity of Direct Critical Points cmd="newline" in Silicon Nanofilms

We report on the observation of quantum confinement effects and the influence of surface-related states due to the formation of nanograins on ultrashort relaxation near the direct critical points of silicon nanofilms following UV-excitation. Direct photoexcitation of the samples in the vicinity of the critical points of the first Brillouin zone has been achieved using femtosecond pulses in the spectra range of 290–400 nm. Transient absorption measurements show a substantial enhancement of state filling with decreasing the film thickness down to 5 nm due to quantum confinement in the z-direction. Furthermore, the state filling of surface-related states of nanograins suggests that the critical points of these states follow the ellipsometry extracted energy-curve.