A Study on Electroluminescence from Au/Ge-Containing Silicon Oxide/p-Si and Au/Si-Rich Silicon Oxide/p-Si Structures

Abstract

Ge-containing silicon oxide (GSO) films (5–15 nm) and Si-rich silicon oxide (SSO) films (5–15 nm) were deposited using the RF magnetron sputtering technique with a Ge–SiO2 and a Si–SiO2 composite target, respectively. The Au/GSO/p-Si and Au/SSO/p-Si structures were fabricated and their electroluminescence (EL) characteristics were comparatively studied. Both of the Au/GSO/p-Si and Au/SSO/p-Si structures have rectifying behavior. All the EL spectra from the two types of the structure have almost unchanged peak positions around 650 nm (~1.9 eV) and are independent of applied forward biases. The EL mechanisms for the Au/GSO/p-Si and Au/SSO/p-Si structures have been discussed.