Field-Effect Electroluminescence Spectra of Reverse-Biased PN Junctions in Silicon Device for Microdisplay

• Published in: Journal of display technology Vol. 12; no. 2; pp. 115 - 121
• Main Authors: Xu, Kaikai, Zhang, Zhengyuan, Yu, Qi, Wen, Zhiyu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01-02-2016; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: CMOS integrated circuits; Electroluminescence; Light emitting diodes; Logic gates; microdisplay; P-n junctions; Photonics; semiconductor integrated optoelectronics; Semiconductors; Silicon; silicon LED
• ISSN: 1551-319X; 1558-9323
• DOI: 10.1109/JDT.2015.2470097

Light emission has been observed from silicon devices in the reverse avalanche mode is reported. A Si-PMOSFET LED is manufactured in a standard 3- μm CMOS technology, with no changes to the process, is described. Under the breakdown condition, the reverse-biased junction configuration of the silicon light-emitting device emit light in a broad spectrum from 450 to 800 nm with characteristic peaks around ~ 650 nm. The photon emission energy spectrum is compared to the hot electron energy distribution . Further, it successfully demonstrates the possibility of quantifying the optical performance in an integrated micro-display array consisting of five in-parallel connected PMOSFETs based on the silicon light source, thus providing high functional diversification of CMOS integrated circuits with high-frequency capability of the order of GHz. The demonstration of such a LED that can be easily integrated into CMOS fabrication process is an important step toward optical interconnects.