VISIBLE ELECTROLUMINESCENCE FROM SEMITRANSPARENT AU FILM EXTRA THIN SI-RICH SILICON-OXIDE FILM P-SI STRUCTURE

Visible electroluminescence (EL) has been reported from semitransparen t Au film/extra thin Si-rich silicon oxide film/p-Si diodes at room te mperature. The Si-rich silicon oxide films, with thickness of about 40 Angstrom, were grown using the magnetron sputtering technique. At for ward bias of 4 V, EL spectra with peak energy of 1.9 eV and full width at half maximum of 0.5 eV can be observed from diodes with such extra thin Si-rich oxide films having not been annealed. EL peak energy sho ws a small red shift under low forward bias but does not shift again w hen increasing the bias further. Annealing at 800 degrees C, EL spectr a widen and show several shoulders at about 1.5, 2.2, and 2.4 eV, and the EL peak energy shows blue shift with increasing forward bias. Thes e results are shown to be consistent with light emission at several ty pes of luminescence centers in the Si-rich silicon oxide films. (C) 19 95 American Institute of Physics.