Polarity-controlled visible/infrared electroluminescence in Si-nanocrystal/Si light-emitting devices

Abstract

We report the demonstration of a room-temperature visible/infrared color-switchable light-emitting device comprising a Si nanocrystal-embedded silicon oxide thin film on a p-type Si substrate. The device emits band-edge infrared light from the silicon substrate when the substrate is positively (forward) biased with respect to the Si-nanocrystal film. Under reverse bias, visible emission from the Si-nanocrystal film is observed. Compared to the photoluminescence of the Si-nanocrystal film, the visible electroluminescence is broader and blueshifted to shorter wavelength, and is ascribed to impact ionization in the Si-nanocrystal/SiO2 film.

Broadband infrared photoluminescence in silicon nanowires with high density stacking faults

“…probably the most successful approach to engineering silicon for visible light emission above the bandgap [1][2][3][4] . The emission spectrum can be further tuned by varying the size of nanocrystals.…”

“…5shows photoluminescence spectra of silicon nanocrystals embedded in oxide matrix4 . Very strong photoluminescence can be seen in the visible and near infrared regions above the band gap.…”

Mercaptosuccinic acid modified silicon particle inks: Production, structural, and electrical characterizations

“…Over the past two decades, porous Si films have attracted considerable interest in fundamental research and potential device applications, e.g., gas sensors to detect toxic and explosive gases [1][2][3], high capacity anodes for lithium-ion (Li + ) batteries [4,5], multiexciton solar cells [6,7], biosensors [8], drug delivery devices [9,10], and light emitting devices [11,12]. To date, a number of interesting fundamental properties have been reported; however, applications are not yet sufficiently advanced.…”

One-chip multicolor electroluminescence from an isotype heterojunction light-emitting diode

“…Up to now, light-emitting devices with tunable colors have been realized mostly by changing either the intensity or the polarity of the applied bias, and rare device in one single chip can work at both DC and AC driving conditions. [6][7][8][9][10] HfO 2 is a good dielectric that possesses good features such as high dielectric constant (25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30), low leakage current, and low interface density. [11][12][13] It is also a suitable electron blocking layer for the ZnO/GaN LEDs 13-15 due to the large conduction-band offset (DE C ) of HfO 2 /ZnO (2.29 eV (Ref.…”