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Auger quenching-based modulation of electroluminescence from ion-implanted silicon nanocrystals

Josep Carreras1, C Bonafos2, J Montserrat3, C Domínguez3, J Arbiol1 and B Garrido1

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We describe high-speed control of light from silicon nanocrystals under electrical excitation. The nanocrystals are fabricated by the ion implantation of Si+ in the 15 nm thick gate oxide of a field effect transistor at 6.5 keV. A characteristic read-peaked electroluminescence is obtained either by DC or AC gate excitation. However, AC gate excitation is found to have a frequency response that is limited by the radiative lifetimes of silicon nanocrystals, which makes impossible the direct modulation of light beyond 100 kb s−1 rates. As a solution, we demonstrate that combined DC gate excitation along with an AC channel hot electron injection of electrons into the nanocrystals may be used to obtain a 100% deep modulation at rates of 200 Mb s−1 and low modulating voltages. This approach may find applications in biological sensing integrated into CMOS, single-photon emitters or direct encoding of information into light from Si-nc doped with erbium systems, which exhibit net optical gain. In this respect, the main advantage compared to conventional electro-optical modulators based on plasma dispersion effects is the low power consumption (104 times smaller) and thus the inherent large scale of integration. A detailed electrical characterization is also given. An Si/SiO2 barrier change from Φb = 3.2 to 4.2 eV is found while the injection mechanism is changed from Fowler–Nordheim to channel hot electron, which is a clear signature of nanocrystal charging and subsequent electroluminescence quenching.


PACS

78.60.Fi Electroluminescence

78.67.Bf Nanocrystals and nanoparticles

61.72.uf Ge and Si

81.16.-c Methods of nanofabrication and processing

85.35.-p Nanoelectronic devices

73.63.Bd Nanocrystalline materials

Subjects

Electronics and devices

Condensed matter: electrical, magnetic and optical

Condensed matter: structural, mechanical & thermal

Nanoscale science and low-D systems

Dates

Issue 20 (21 May 2008)

Received 25 January 2008, in final form 17 March 2008

Published 14 April 2008



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