Electroluminescence from indium tin oxide film/nanoscale Si oxide/p-Si structure

After an Si oxide layer of 3 nm thickness had been grown by using magnetron sputtering on a p-type Si (100) substrate, an indium tin oxide (ITO) film was deposited onto the Si oxide layer by using electron beam deposition. El ectroluminescence (EL) from such an ITO/Si oxide/p-type Si structure was me asured under a forward bias of 5 V or more. Its EL power efficiency is abou t eight times as large as that of a semitransparent Au/Si oxide (3 nm)/p-Si structure. The experimental results indicate that the greater EL power eff iciency is due not only to the higher optical transparency of the ITO film compared with Au film in a range of 300 to 900 nm, but also to some new lum inescence centers introduced in the Si oxide layer during the ITO depositio n process.