Abstract
Three-dimensional SiGe nanostructures grown on Si (SiGe/Si) using molecular beam epitaxy or low-pressure chemical vapor deposition exhibit photoluminescence and electroluminescence in the important spectral range of 1.3–1.6 μm. At a high level of photoexcitation or carrier injection, thermal quenching of the luminescence intensity is suppressed and the previously confirmed type-II energy band alignment at Si/SiGe cluster heterointerfaces no longer controls radiative carrier recombination. Instead, a recently proposed dynamic type-I energy band alignment is found to be responsible for the strong decrease in carrier radiative lifetime and further increase in the luminescence quantum efficiency.
Highlights
Optical interconnects in the form of fiber optics have been used for many years in different long-distance communication applications [1, 2]
We demonstrate that the recent revised understanding of basic physics in such systems has already helped to achieve nearly constant luminescence intensity at temperatures 4 K < T < 250 K, and that the radiative carrier recombination lifetime can successfully be reduced from 10−2 second to 10−7 seconds, which is only ∼10 times longer compared to those found in direct band gap III-V semiconductors
The highest PL and EL quantum efficiency is found in Si and Ge (SiGe) clusters with an ∼50% Ge composition near the cluster core
Summary
Three-dimensional SiGe nanostructures grown on Si (SiGe/Si) using molecular beam epitaxy or low-pressure chemical vapor deposition exhibit photoluminescence and electroluminescence in the important spectral range of 1.3–1.6 μm. A recently proposed dynamic type-I energy band alignment is found to be responsible for the strong decrease in carrier radiative lifetime and further increase in the luminescence quantum efficiency
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