Room Temperature Electroluminescence From D1 Dislocation Centers In Silicon

We report on electroluminescence at room temperature from forward biased n+-p silicon diodes containing high densities (108-109 cm−2) of dislocations at the junction interface. In addition to electroluminescence from band-to-band transitions, we observe a signal arising from the well known dislocation center Dl peaked at ∼1.6 μm (0.78 eV). The Dl electroluminescence intensity at room temperature increases linearly with current density with no observable saturation as long as sample heating is avoided. The quenching of the D l luminescence between 4 K and room temperature is highly sensitive to metal impurities which introduce competitive non-radiative recombination centers. The external power efficiency of the DI electroluminescence was estimated to be of the order of 10−6.