Charging effect on electroluminescence performance of nc-Si/a-SiO2 films

Abstract

Silicon nanocrystals are synthesized by reactive magnetron sputtering to distribute throughout the gate oxide layer. Electroluminescence (EL) from amorphous silicon dioxide (a-SiO2) film embedded with Si nanocrystals (nc-Si) has been studied under various gate voltages. Both the integrated EL intensity and the gate current first increase and then decrease with increasing gate voltage. The decrease in EL intensity is ascribed to the charging up of the nc-Si associated trapping centers. The EL intensity can be partially recovered by application of positive electric stress to release part of the trapped charges.