Bright green electroluminescence from Tb3+ in silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor devices

Abstract

Bright green electroluminescence with luminance up to 2800 cd/ m 2 is reported from indium-tin-oxide/SiO 2 : Tb/ Si metal-oxide-semiconductor devices. The SiO 2 :Tb 3+ gate oxide was prepared by thermal oxidation followed by Tb + implantation. Electroluminescence and photoluminescence properties were studied with variations of the Tb 3+ ion concentration and the annealing temperature. The optimized device shows a high external quantum efficiency of 16% and a luminous efficiency of 2.1 lm/ W. The excitation processes of the strong green electroluminescence are attributed to the impact excitation of the Tb 3+ luminescent centers by hot electrons and the subsequent crossrelaxation from 5 D 3 to 5 D 4 energy levels. Light-emitting devices with micrometer size fabricated by the standard metal-oxide-semiconductor technology are demonstrated.

Intense green-yellow electroluminescence from Tb+-implanted silicon-rich silicon nitride/oxide light emitting devices

“…Therefore, the Tb 3þ excitation cross section at 543 nm was found to be (8.2 6 0.5) Â 10 À14 cm 2 , that is one order of magnitude larger than one reported for Tb þ -implanted SiO 2 light emitting devices under electrical pumping. 6 As a consequence, the probability of Tb 3þ excitation in silicon nitride is higher than the silicon dioxide matrix.…”

“…1 Other promising approaches toward this aim are Sinanocrystals (Si-ncs) embedded in a SiO 2 matrix (SiO x ) 2 and also co-doped with RE ions. 3 Published works run from those covering the visible range with RE ions, such as Ce 3þ , 4 Eu 3þ , 5 and Tb 3þ , 6 to those only focusing on the near infrared region with Nd 3þ (Ref. 7) and Er 3þ (Ref.…”

Electroluminescent properties of Tb-doped carbon-enriched silicon oxide

“…For the forward bias (curve 3), the sharp lines at 488, 545, 590 nm were observed. These lines correspond to intra-4ƒ shell transitions of Tb 3+ ion [18]. At the reverse bias, white light emission was observed (curve 2 in Fig.…”

Efficient silicon based light emitters

“…Yet it is also possible to introduce rare-earth ions into the oxide of a Si MOS structure, which can then be excited by applying a voltage between the gate and the substrate. Below we will describe strong electroluminescence from MOS devices implanted with Gd and Tb, emitting UV light at 316 nm [13] and green light at 541 nm [14], respectively. This opens the way for applications of Si-based light emitters for the analysis of biological substances or low-cost microdisplays.…”