P. Bellutti

High power efficiency in Si-nc/SiO2 multilayer light emitting devices by bipolar direct tunneling

We demonstrate experimentally bipolar (electrons and holes) current injection into silicon nanocrystals in thin nanocrystalline-Si/SiO2 multilayers. These light emitting devices have power efficiency of 0.17% and turn-on voltage of 1.7 V. The high electroluminescence efficiency and low onset voltages are attributed to the radiative recombination of excitons formed by both electron and hole injection into silicon nanocrystals via the direct tunneling mechanism. To confirm the bipolar character, different devices were grown, with and without a thick silicon oxide barrier at the multilayer contact electrodes. A transition from bipolar tunneling to unipolar Fowler–Nordheim tunneling is thus observed.

Comparison among various Si/sub 3/N/sub 4/ waveguide geometries grown within a CMOS fabrication pilot line

Low-pressure chemical-vapor deposition (LPCVD) thin-film Si/sub 3/N/sub 4/ waveguides have been fabricated on Si substrate within a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) fabrication pilot line. Three kinds of geometries (channel, rib, and strip-loaded) have been simulated, fabricated, and optically characterized in order to optimize waveguide performances. The number and optical confinement factors of guided optical modes have been simulated, taking into account sidewall effects caused by the etching processes, which have been studied by scanning electron microscopy. Optical guided modes have been observed with a mode analyzer and compared with simulation expectations to confirm the process parameters. Propagation loss measurements at 780 and 632.8 nm have been performed by both using the cutback technique and measuring the drop of intensity of the top scattered light along the length of the waveguide. Loss coefficients of approximately 0.1 dB/cm have been obtained for channel waveguides. These data are very promising in view of the development of Si-integrated photonics.

Propagation losses of silicon nitride waveguides in the near-infrared range

Si3N4∕SiO2 waveguides have been fabricated by low pressure chemical vapor deposition within a complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor fabrication pilot line. Propagation losses for different waveguide geometries (channel and rib loaded) have been measured in the near infrared as a function of polarization, waveguide width, and light wavelength. A maximum thickness of single Si3N4 of 250 nm is allowed by the large stress between Si3N4 and SiO2. This small thickness turns into significant propagation losses at 1544 nm of about 4.5dB∕cm because of the poor optical mode confinement factor. Strain release and control is possible by using multilayer waveguides by alternating Si3N4 and SiO2 layers. In this way, propagation losses of about 1.5dB∕cm have been demonstrated thanks to an improved optical mode confinement factor and the good quality of the interfaces in the waveguide.

Silicon-based near-infrared tunable filters filled with positive or negative dielectric anisotropic liquid crystals

Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor-compatible tunable Fabry–Perot microcavities filled with liquid crystals (LCs) were realized and studied in the near-infrared region. The microcavities were produced by chip bonding technique, which allows one to infill LC between two [SiO2/Si]3λ/4u200a(λ=1.5u200aμm) dielectric Bragg reflectors separated by 950-nm-thick SiO2 posts. Liquid crystals with positive and negative dielectric anisotropy were used, i.e. MerckE7 (Δe=13.8) and Merck-6608 LC (Δe=−4.2). Mirror-integrated electrodes allow an external bias to induce an electric field and to tune the LC properties and, hence, the microcavity resonance. Electric-field-induced shifts of the second-order cavity modes of 127 and 49 nm were obtained for Merck-E7 and Merck-6608 LC, with driving potentials of 5 and 10 V, respectively.

Graded-size Si quantum dot ensembles for efficient light-emitting diodes

We propose a simple way to engineer the energy band gap of an ensemble of silicon nanocrystal (Si-NC) embedded in SiO2 via thickness/composition profiling of Si-NC multilayers. By means of a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor compatible process, light emitting diodes (LEDs) which incorporate graded energy gap Si-NC multilayers in the active region have been grown. Electrical and optical properties of these graded Si-NC LEDs demonstrate the ability of the proposed method to tailor the optoelectronic properties of Si-NC devices.

Optical response of one-dimensional (Si/SiO2)m photonic crystals

One-dimensional photonic crystals made of (Si/SiO2)m multilayers with m=2,…8 have been grown on SiO2 4-in. wafers by repeated polysilicon low-pressure chemical vapor deposition, oxidation, and wet etching steps. The poly-Si and SiO2 layers were about 220 and 660 nm thick, respectively, thus realizing λ/4 distributed Bragg reflectors. Spectroscopic ellipsometry in the 1.4–5 eV range was used to determine the dielectric function of poly-Si and the actual layer thicknesses, as well as to check the structural and compositional homogeneity of the structures. In order to measure the photonic crystal properties, specular reflectance and transmittance measurements were performed from 0.2 to 6 eV at different angles of incidence θ⩽50° and for transverse electric and transverse magnetic polarizations. The stop-bands characteristic of Bragg reflector multilayers appear up to the fifth order and become more pronounced with increasing m, reaching almost complete rejection for m=4 periods. The experimental spectra were...

Electroluminescence in MOS structures with Si/SiO2 nanometric multilayers

Abstract Silicon light emitting devices, compatible with the conventional CMOS process, have been fabricated and tested. The structure of the devices is based on a MOS capacitor where nanometer thick silicon/silicon dioxide multilayers have been grown in the dielectric. Room temperature photo- and electroluminescence were measured. While photoluminescence has been recognized as being due to electron–hole recombination in the nanometer thick silicon layers, electroluminescence was mainly related to hot-electron relaxation in the substrate. The measured external quantum efficiency of the electroluminescence is about 5×10 −5 .

Room temperature luminescence from (Si/SiO2)n (n=1,2,3) multilayers grown in an industrial low-pressure chemical vapor deposition reactor

A simple complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor compatible process for the preparation of very thin (1–5 nm thick) poly-Si layers embedded in SiO2 is presented. The process consists of repeated cycles of poly-Si deposition, oxidation, and wet etching steps. Periodic structures with up to three Si/SiO2 layers were grown using this process. Transmission electron microscopy analyses show that the layered structure can be conserved down to a Si layer thickness of 2 nm. For thinner layers the resulting structure is more granular like. Samples with a Si-layer thickness lower than 3 nm show room temperature photoluminescence at about 1.55 eV that shifts to higher energies when the thickness is further reduced. The maximum shift obtained with respect to the c-Si band gap is 0.55 eV. Intensity of the photoluminescence as a function of temperature shows a behavior similar to the one observed for 0 and one-dimensional Si structures. On the basis of the thickness dependence, the temperature dependence and the satura...

Light emitting porous silicon diode based on a silicon/porous silicon heterojunction

A new structure is proposed to improve the external quantum efficiency of porous silicon (PS) light emitting diodes (LED). It is based on a heterojunction between n-type doped silicon and PS. The heterojunction is formed due to the doping selectivity of the etching process used to form PS. The improvement of the proposed LED structure with respect to usual metal/PS LED is demonstrated. This is thought to be due to a different injection mechanism for which carriers are injected directly into conduction band states. Anodic oxidation experiments show further improvements in the LED efficiency.

Metal Sulfides as Sensing Materials for Chemoresistive Gas Sensors

This work aims at a broad overview of the results obtained with metal-sulfide materials in the field of chemoresistive gas sensing. Indeed, despite the well-known electrical, optical, structural and morphological features previously described in the literature, metal sulfides present lack of investigation for gas sensing applications, a field in which the metal oxides still maintain a leading role owing to their high sensitivity, low cost, small dimensions and simple integration, in spite of the wide assortment of sensing materials. However, despite their great advantages, metal oxides have shown significant drawbacks, which have led to the search for new materials for gas sensing devices. In this work, Cadmium Sulfide and Tin (IV) Sulfide were investigated as functional materials for thick-film chemoresistive gas-sensors fabrication and they were tested both in thermo- and in photo-activation modes. Furthermore, electrical characterization was carried out in order to verify their gas sensing properties and material stability, by comparing the results obtained with metal sulfides to those obtained by using their metal-oxides counterparts. The results highlighted the possibility to use metal sulfides as a novel class of sensing materials, owing to their selectivity to specific compounds, stability, and the possibility to operate at room temperature.