Electrical Characteristics and Temperature Effects of Electroluminescing Silicon Nanocrystals

Abstract

AbstractThe white electroluminescence (EL) demonstrated from Si nanocrystals in a wider bandgap amorphous oxide matrix based structure has exciting opportunities in electroptic applications as well as novel LEDs. In this report, we review the electroluminescent properties of the devices for rapid thermally annealed samples at anneal temperatures ranging from 875°C to 1025°C. Depending upon the anneal conditions the EL spectra has shown two distinct spectral features; a strong emission peak at 380nm with a width of 50nm, and a broader features centered above 800nm,. Further, the I-V characteristics and corresponding EL spectra have been measured for sample temperatures ranging from 317K to 240K. In addition, Raman scattering estimated the mean particle sizes of the Si nanocrystals of 6.5nm and 8nm as well as provide insight to the nature of the amorphous matrix. The novel light emission from our devices demonstrates an exciting opportunity for Si nanocrystal (and nanocrystals in general) technology in a wide variety of applications.