Room Temperature Light Emission from Superatom-like Ge–Core/Si–Shell Quantum Dots

Abstract

We have demonstrated the high–density formation of super–atom–like Si quantum dots with Ge–core on ultrathin SiO2 with control of high–selective chemical–vapor deposition and applied them to an active layer of light–emitting diodes (LEDs). Through luminescence measurements, we have reported characteristics carrier confinement and recombination properties in the Ge–core, reflecting the type II energy band discontinuity between the Si–clad and Ge–core. Additionally, under forward bias conditions over a threshold bias for LEDs, electroluminescence becomes observable at room temperature in the near–infrared region and is attributed to radiative recombination between quantized states in the Ge–core with a deep potential well for holes caused by electron/hole simultaneous injection from the gate and substrate, respectively. The results will lead to the development of Si–based light–emitting devices that are highly compatible with Si–ultra–large–scale integration processing, which has been believed to have extreme difficulty in realizing silicon photonics.