In this letter we present photoluminescence results on &bgr;‐FeSi2/Si using excitation energies above and below the silicon band gap. These results show that the luminescence emission observed at 1.5 &mgr;m can be firmly attributed to band edge related emission from the &bgr;‐FeSi2. This result confirms the potential of &bgr;‐FeSi2as a strong contender for a silicon compatible optoelectronics technology that matches the conventional optical fiber transmission wavelength at 1.5 &mgr;m. ©1996 American Institute of Physics.