It is demonstrated that luminescent porous silicon (PS) exhibits an efficient thermoacoustic effect owing to its extremely low thermal conductivity. The experimental device is composed of a patterned thin Al film electrode (30 nm thick), a microporous PS layer (10-50 #mu#m thick), and a single-crystalline Si (c-Si) wafer. The PS layer was formed by a conventional anodization technique. When an electrical input is provided to the Al electrode as a sinusoidal current followed by Joule's heating, a significant acoustic pressure is produced in front of the device as a result of an efficient heat exchange between PS and air. The output amplitude is in inverse proportion to the square root of the input frequency (0.1-100 kHz) as predicted by a theoretical analysis. The observed effect is a novel useful function of PS as a completely depleted nanocrystalline system.
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