Electroluminescence in silicon oxynitride films

We report electroluminescence (EL) from 50 nm silicon oxynitride films on p -type crystalline silicon substrates in a Au/silicon oxynitride/Si structur e. The EL intensity has a peak below 2.45 eV, and is consistent with radiat ive recombination of injected carriers. The EL is present only in annealed samples, and the emission is similar to the photoluminescence from the same samples. The current-voltage behavior is indicative of space charge-limite d current. No polarity or field dependence of the EL peak energy is observe d. This phenomenon is attributed to the relaxation of carriers down the ban d tails before recombination. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S002 1-8979(99)09417-7].