Search

The infrared light emission of forward-biased silicon diodes is studied. Through ion implantation and anneal, dislocation loops were created near the diode junction. These loops suppress the light emission at the band-to-band peak around 1.1 µm. The so-called D1 line at 1.5 µm is strongly enhanced by these dislocation loops. We report a full study of photoluminescence and electroluminescence of these diodes. The results lead to new insights for the manufacturing approach of practical infrared light sources in integrated circuits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary silicon light-emitting diodes in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology suffer from poor efficiency compared to their bulk-silicon counterparts. In this letter, we present a new device structure where the carrier injection takes place through silicon slabs of only a few nanometer thick. Its external quantum efficiency of 1.4 · 10-4 at room temperature, with a spectrum peaking at 1130 nm, is almost two orders higher than reported thus far on SOI. The structure diminishes the dominant role of nonradiative recombination at the n+ and p+ contacts, by confining the injected carriers in an SOI peninsula. With this approach, a compact infrared light source can be fabricated using standard semiconductor processing steps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remarkably strong infrared light emission was recently observed from silicon p+-n diodes. In several publications a causal relation is proposed between the larger-than-expected light intensity and the existence of lattice damage around the junction. In this letter, we present direct experimental evidence that lattice damage is in fact detrimental to the efficiency of light emission of silicon LEDs. The experiments call for a revision of the explanation for strong light emission in this type of devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]