Si-nanocrystal-based LEDs fabricated by ion implantation and plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition

An in-depth study of the physical and electrical properties of Si-nanocrystal-based MOSLEDs is presented. The active layers were fabricated with different concentrations of Si by both ion implantation and plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition. Devices fabricated by ion implantation exhibit a combination of direct current and field-effect luminescence under a bipolar pulsed excitation. The onset of the emission decreases with the Si excess from 6 to 3 V. The direct current emission is attributed to impact ionization and is associated with the reasonably high current levels observed in current-voltage measurements. This behaviour is in good agreement with transmission electron microscopy images that revealed a continuous and uniform Si nanocrystal distribution. The emission power efficiency is relatively low, ∼10 ^-3%, and the emission intensity exhibits fast degradation rates, as revealed from accelerated ageing experiments. Devices fabricated by chemical deposition only exhibit field-effect luminescence, whose onset decreases with the Si excess from 20 to 6 V. The absence of the continuous emission is explained by the observation of a 5nm region free of nanocrystals, which strongly reduces the direct current through the gate. The main benefit of having this nanocrystal-free region is that tunnelling current flow assisted by nanocrystals is blocked by the SiO₂ stack so that power consumption is strongly reduced, which in return increases the device power efficiency up to 0.1%. In addition, the accelerated ageing studies reveal a 50% degradation rate reduction as compared to implanted structures.