Luminescence measurements on MOS tunnel diodes as a method of finding the photon emission rates in silicon

This paper contains a description of a procedure for determining the rates of photon generation by hot electrons in silicon. The algorithm proposed pr esumes the mathematical processing of experimental radiation spectra of for ward-biased MOS tunnel structures on p-Si. These structures allow a quasimo noenergetic injection of electrons and are capable of emitting light. The e lectron energy may be varied within the range of several eV, depending on t he insulator thickness used. Some practical problems, such as the eliminati on of a "thermal" component from the spectra and the corrections for a re-a bsorption of emitted photons, are given attention to. The approbation of a proposed algorithm will remain, however, beyond the scope of this work. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.