  The optical emission spectra from Ge films on Si are markedly different from
their bulk Ge counterparts. Whereas bulk Ge emission is dominated by the
material's indirect gap, the photoluminescence signal from Ge films is mainly
associated with its direct band gap. Using a new class of Ge-on-Si films grown
by a recently introduced CVD approach, we study the direct and indirect
photoluminescence from intrinsic and doped samples and we conclude that the
origin of the discrepancy is the lack of self-absorption in thin Ge films
combined with a deviation from quasi-equilibrium conditions in the conduction
band. The latter is confirmed by a simple model suggesting that the deviation
from quasi-equilibrium is caused by the much shorter recombination lifetime in
the films relative to bulk Ge.
