Abstract:

We report the demonstration of a room-temperature visible/infrared color-switchable light-emitting device comprising a Si nanocrystal-embedded silicon oxide thin film on a p-type Si substrate. The device emits band-edge infrared light from the silicon substrate when the substrate is positively (forward) biased with respect to the Si-nanocrystal film. Under reverse bias, visible emission from the Si-nanocrystal film is observed. Compared to the photoluminescence of the Si-nanocrystal film, the visible electroluminescence is broader and blueshifted to shorter wavelength, and is ascribed to impact ionization in the Si-nanocrystal/SiO2 film. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3480403]