Large area Si light emitting device for the mid-wave and long-wave infrared bands

Abstract

ABSTRACT The design, fabrication technol ogy and parameters are presented for monolith ic linear 16-element IR emitter bar and the 8 x 8 stack of bars. Both types of devices are based on the Si p + in -diodes with the 0.86 x 0.86 mm 2 emitting surface integrated into a single chip and operated at well above room temperatures by the contact double injection of free charge carrier. To bypass Si electronic band structure limitation, we u tilized free carrier absorption as a way to monitor material below-bandgap IR thermal emission. At a device temperature T=453 K, nearly 1.0 mW output power and 420 K apparent temperature of IR (3 to 12 µm spectral band) radiation could be achieved with ~0.8% external power efficiency and 0.1 ms rise-fall time. This represents the longer wavelengths, higher operating temperatures and output power from Si spontaneous emitters ever reported. Key words: 3-5 µm and 8-12 µm bands, Si emitter, emitte r bar, double injection, thermal emission 1. INTRODUCTION