Unaltered Blinking in Single Silicon Oxidized Nanocrystals when X-ray Irradiated

Abstract: Quantum dots exhibit a range of interesting and useful properties linked to their elemental composition, crystal structure, size and shape. Two such properties is the work function and blinking frequency. Tests on several different quantum dot types have shown that x-ray radiation will alter these factors; with increasing doses "bleaching" the dots and making them permanently dark. There are several competing theories to explain this behavior and a lot of materials systems that have not been investigated yet. One such unexplored material is oxidized silicon NCs. This work found no consistent change in work function or blinking frequency after an X-ray dose of ~272 000 Gy absorbed by the SiO2. Individual dots changed between PL measurements but as a whole the sample remained statistically unchanged.