Efficient Electrical Injection Research Articles

Solution Synthesis and Light-Emitting Applications of One-Dimensional Lead-Free Cerium(III) Metal Halides.

Combining rare earth elements with the halide perovskite structure offers valuable insights into designing nonlead (Pb) luminescent materials. However, most of these compositions tend to form zero-dimensional (0D) networks of metal-halide polyhedra, with higher-dimensional (1D, 2D, and 3D) structures receiving relatively less exploration. Herein, we present synthesis and optical properties of Cs3CeCl6·3H2O, characterized by its unique 1D crystal structure. The conduction band minimum of Cs3CeCl6·3H2O becomes less localized as a result of the increased structural dimension, making it possible for the materials to achieve an efficient electrical injection. For both Cs3CeCl6·3H2O single crystals and nanocrystals, we also observed remarkable luminescence with near-unity photoluminescence quantum yield and exceptional phase stability. Cs3CeCl6·3H2O single crystals demonstrate an X-ray scintillation light yield of 31900 photons/MeV, higher than that of commercial LuAG:Ce (22000 photons/MeV); electrically driven light-emitting diodes fabricated with Cs3CeCl6·3H2O nanocrystals yield the characteristic emission of Ce3+, indicating their potential use in next-generation violet-light-emitting devices.

Organic‐Inorganic Hybrid Cuprous‐Based Metal Halides with Unique Two‐Dimensional Crystal Structure for White Light‐Emitting Diodes

Ternary cuprous (Cu+)‐based metal halides, represented by cesium copper iodide (e.g., CsCu2I3 and Cs3Cu2I5), are garnering increasing interest for light‐emitting applications owing to their intrinsically high photoluminescence quantum yield and direct bandgap. Toward electrically driven light‐emitting diodes (LEDs), it is highly desirable for the light emitters to have a high structural dimensionality as it may favor efficient electrical injection. However, unlike lead‐based halide perovskites whose light‐emitting units can be facilely arranged in three‐dimensional (3D) ways, to date, nearly all ternary Cu+‐based metal halides crystallize into 0D or 1D networks of Cu‐X (X = Cl, Br, I) polyhedra, whereas 3D and even 2D structures remain mostly uncharted. Here, by employing a fluorinated organic cation, we report a new kind of ternary Cu+‐based metal halides, (DFPD)CuX2 (DFPD+ = 4,4‐difluoropiperidinium), which exhibits unique 2D layered crystal structure. Theoretical calculations reveal a highly dispersive conduction band of (DFPD)CuBr2, which is beneficial for charge carrier injection. It is also of particular significance to find that the 2D (DFPD)CuBr2 crystals show appealing properties, including improved ambient stability and an efficient warm white‐light emission, making it a promising candidate for single‐component lighting and display applications.

Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Cuprous-Based Metal Halides with Unique Two-Dimensional Crystal Structure for White Light-Emitting Diodes.

Ternary cuprous (Cu+)-based metal halides,represented bycesium copper iodide (e.g., CsCu2I3and Cs3Cu2I5),are garnering increasing interest for light-emitting applications owing to their intrinsically high photoluminescence quantum yield and direct bandgap. Toward electrically driven light-emitting diodes (LEDs), it is highly desirable for the light emitters to have a high structural dimensionality as it may favor efficient electrical injection. However, unlike lead-based halide perovskites whose light-emitting units can be facilely arranged in three-dimensional (3D) ways, to date, nearly allternary Cu+-based metal halides crystallize into 0D or 1D networks of Cu-X (X =Cl, Br, I) polyhedra, whereas 3D and even 2D structures remain mostly uncharted. Here, by employing a fluorinated organic cation, we report a new kind of ternary Cu+-based metal halides, (DFPD)CuX2(DFPD+= 4,4-difluoropiperidinium), which exhibitsunique 2D layered crystal structure.Theoretical calculations reveal a highly dispersive conduction band of (DFPD)CuBr2, which is beneficial for charge carrier injection. It is also of particular significance to find that the 2D (DFPD)CuBr2crystals show appealing properties, including improved ambient stability and an efficient warm white-light emission, making it a promising candidate for single-component lighting and display applications.

Scaling Challenges in High Power Photonic Crystal Surface-Emitting Lasers

Since the initial proposal in 1999 by Noda <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">et al.</i> , photonic crystal surface emitting lasers (PCSELs) have shown to achieve large area, coherent lasing with a narrow, single mode beam. Owing to their unique orthogonal electrical/optical cavity scheme, PCSELs have emerged as one of the most promising platforms for high power diode lasers. In this paper, we report the performance trade-offs and challenges in power scaling, modal competition, and charge injection control. To address these challenges, we investigate the electrical and optical performances of PCSELs under high-power operation. Heterostructure designs with electron block layers were incorporated for efficient and balanced electrical charge injection. Symmetry breaking strategy was introduced in the photonic crystal design to engineer the in-plane momentum dependent quality factor (Q(k)) for mode discrimination and single mode operation. The impact of electrode designs was also investigated to achieve large area uniform charge injection. Simulation results of these designs indicate promising solutions and improved performances for large-area high-power and single-mode PCSEL operations.

Dual‐Phase Regulation for High‐Efficiency Perovskite Light‐Emitting Diodes

AbstractPerovskite light‐emitting diodes (Pero‐LEDs) have attracted significant attention due to their high color purity and solution processing, presenting potential applications for next‐generation solid‐state lighting and displays. Continued materials development has shown that passivating non‐radiative defects can improve device performance. In theory, CsPbBr3&amp;Cs4PbBr6 should be a model emitter for Pero‐LEDs, as its lattice matching provides ideal passivation and efficient exciton confinement. However, the low charge transport of Cs4PbBr6 has so far hindered device performance. Herein, a dual‐phase regulation method to grow a CsPbBr3&amp;Cs4PbBr6 perovskite layer that enables efficient electrical injection is developed. This leads to the realization that Pero‐LEDs with a maximum EQE of 22.3% with a luminance of 10,050 cd m−2, and the devices show a T50 of 59 h at 130 cd m−2.

Robust and Efficient Electrical Injection of Spin-Polarized Carriers from a Zero-Spin-Gap Half-Metal V2NiAl into n-Si at Room Temperature

In recent times, an engrossing and newly discovered class of materials with unique electronic band properties, namely, zero-spin-gap half-metal, has gained acute attraction worldwide because of its...

III-nitride on silicon electrically injected microrings for nanophotonic circuits.

Nanophotonic circuits using group III-nitrides on silicon are still lacking one key component: efficient electrical injection. In this paper we demonstrate an electrical injection scheme using a metal microbridge contact in thin III-nitride on silicon mushroom-type microrings that is compatible with integrated nanophotonic circuits with the goal of achieving electrically injected lasing. Using a central buried n-contact to bypass the insulating buffer layers, we are able to underetch the microring, which is essential for maintaining vertical confinement in a thin disk. We demonstrate direct current room-temperature electroluminescence with 440mW/cm2 output power density at 20 mA from such microrings with diameters of 30 to 50 μm. The first steps towards achieving an integrated photonic circuit are demonstrated.

Interfacial influence on electrical injection and transport characterization of CoFeB|MgO|GaAs-InGaAs quantum wells hetero-structure

The quality of interfaces is a key factor for efficient electrical spin injection into quantum well light emitting diodes. Here, we investigate the interfacial influence on the electrical transport properties in CoFeB|MgO|GaAs-InGaAs quantum wells hetero-structure, by considering textured MgO tunnel barrier fabricated by two different techniques: sputtering and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). From forward and reverse current–voltage characteristics, it is found that the threshold voltage decreases as the annealing temperature changes from room temperature to 300 °C for sputtered samples, however there is not much difference in threshold voltage with the annealing temperature for MBE-grown samples. In combination with transmission electron microscope (TEM) studies, it is found the MgO|GaAs interface by MBE is sharp for both grown and annealed states. However, there is a thin (∼0.4 nm) amorphous MgO layer at the MgO|GaAs interface for sputtered samples with grown state, and the amorphous MgO can be improved and crystallized after annealing. The MgO|GaAs interface plays a role in modulating the band structure and has an influence on electrical injection. Our work demonstrated that CoFeB|MgO|GaAs interfaces are important and can be engineered thanks to the use of two types of growth for the textured MgO tunnel barriers, which ensures efficient electrical injection.

Hybrid organic-inorganic polariton laser

Organic materials exhibit exceptional room temperature light emitting characteristics and enormous exciton oscillator strength, however, their low charge carrier mobility prevent their use in high-performance applications such as electrically pumped lasers. In this context, ultralow threshold polariton lasers, whose operation relies on Bose-Einstein condensation of polaritons – part-light part-matter quasiparticles, are highly advantageous since the requirement for high carrier injection no longer holds. Polariton lasers have been successfully implemented using inorganic materials owing to their excellent electrical properties, however, in most cases their relatively small exciton binding energies limit their operation temperature. It has been suggested that combining organic and inorganic semiconductors in a hybrid microcavity, exploiting resonant interactions between these materials would permit to dramatically enhance optical nonlinearities and operation temperature. Here, we obtain cavity mediated hybridization of GaAs and J-aggregate excitons in the strong coupling regime under electrical injection of carriers as well as polariton lasing up to 200 K under non-resonant optical pumping. Our demonstration paves the way towards realization of hybrid organic-inorganic microcavities which utilise the organic component for sustaining high temperature polariton condensation and efficient electrical injection through inorganic structure.

Hybrid indium phosphide-on-silicon nanolaser diode

By exploiting one-dimensional photonic crystal nanocavities, an ultra-compact indium phosphide-on-silicon laser diode with low current threshold, high wall-plug efficiency and high integrability is demonstrated. The most-awaited convergence of microelectronics and photonics promises to bring about a revolution for on-chip data communications and processing1. Among all the optoelectronic devices to be developed, power-efficient nanolaser diodes able to be integrated densely with silicon photonics and electronics are essential to convert electrical data into the optical domain. Here, we report a demonstration of ultracompact laser diodes based on one-dimensional (1D) photonic crystal (PhC) nanocavities2,3,4 made in InP nanoribs heterogeneously integrated on a silicon-waveguide circuitry. The specific nanorib design enables an efficient electrical injection of carriers in the nanocavity without spoiling its optical properties. Room-temperature continuous-wave (CW) single-mode operation is obtained with a low current threshold of 100 µA. Laser emission at 1.56 µm in the silicon waveguides is obtained with wall-plug efficiencies greater than 10%. This result opens up exciting avenues for constructing optical networks at the submillimetre scale for on-chip interconnects and signal processing.

Electrical injection type‐II (GaIn)As/Ga(AsSb)/(GaIn)As single ‘W’‐quantum well laser at 1.2 µm

Highly efficient interface-dominated electrical injection lasers in the near-infrared regime based on the type-II band alignment in (GaIn)As/Ga(AsSb)/(GaIn)As single ‘W’-quantum wells are realised. The structure is designed by applying a fully microscopic theory, grown by metal organic vapour phase epitaxy, and characterised using electroluminescence measurements and broad-area laser studies. A characteristic blue shift of 93 meV/(kA/cm2) with increasing charge carrier density is observed and compared with theoretical investigations. Low threshold current densities of 0.4 kA/cm2, high differential efficiencies of 66%, optical output powers of 1.4 W per facet, and internal losses of only 1.9 cm−1 are observed at a wavelength of 1164 nm for a cavity length of 930 µm. For a cavity length of 2070 µm, the threshold current density is reduced to 0.1 kA/cm2. No indication for type-I related transitions for current densities up to 4.6 kA/cm2 is observed.

Efficient light emission from inorganic and organic semiconductor hybrid structures by energy-level tuning.

The fundamental limits of inorganic semiconductors for light emitting applications, such as holographic displays, biomedical imaging and ultrafast data processing and communication, might be overcome by hybridization with their organic counterparts, which feature enhanced frequency response and colour range. Innovative hybrid inorganic/organic structures exploit efficient electrical injection and high excitation density of inorganic semiconductors and subsequent energy transfer to the organic semiconductor, provided that the radiative emission yield is high. An inherent obstacle to that end is the unfavourable energy level offset at hybrid inorganic/organic structures, which rather facilitates charge transfer that quenches light emission. Here, we introduce a technologically relevant method to optimize the hybrid structure's energy levels, here comprising ZnO and a tailored ladder-type oligophenylene. The ZnO work function is substantially lowered with an organometallic donor monolayer, aligning the frontier levels of the inorganic and organic semiconductors. This increases the hybrid structure's radiative emission yield sevenfold, validating the relevance of our approach.

Nearly Temperature‐Independent Threshold for Amplified Spontaneous Emission in Colloidal CdSe/CdS Quantum Dot‐in‐Rods

Nearly Temperature‐Independent Threshold for Amplified Spontaneous Emission in Colloidal CdSe/CdS Quantum Dot‐in‐Rods

Graphene-contact electrically driven microdisk lasers

Active nanophotonic devices are attractive due to their low-power consumption, ultrafast modulation speed and high-density integration. Although electrical operation is required for practical implementation of these devices, it is not straightforward to introduce a proper current path into such a wavelength-scale nanostructure without affecting the optical properties. For example, to demonstrate electrically driven nanolasers, complicated fabrication techniques have been used thus far. Here we report an electrically driven microdisk laser using a transparent graphene electrode. Current is injected efficiently through the graphene sheet covering the top surface of the microdisk cavity, and, for the first time, lasing operation was achieved with a low-threshold current of ~300 μA at room temperature. In addition, we measured significant electroluminescence from a graphene-contact subwavelength-scale single nanopillar structure. This work represents a new paradigm for the practical applications of integrated photonic systems, by conformally mounting graphene on the complex surfaces of non-planar three-dimensional nanostructures.

Electroluminescence from silicon nanoparticles fabricated from the gas phase

Electroluminescence from as-prepared silicon nanoparticles, fabricated by gasphase synthesis, is demonstrated. The particles are embedded between an n-dopedGaAs substrate and a semitransparent indium tin oxide top electrode. The totalelectroluminescence intensity of the Si nanoparticles is more than a factor of three higherthan the corresponding signal from the epitaxial III–V semiconductor. This, together withthe low threshold voltage for electroluminescence, shows the good optical properties ofthese untreated particles and the efficient electrical injection into the device. Impactionization by electrons emitted from the top electrode is identified as the origin of theelectrically driven light emission.

High output power density from GaN-based two-dimensional nanorod light-emitting diode arrays

Here we propose and realize a scheme for making a direct contact to a two-dimensional nanorod light-emitting diode (LED) array using the oblique-angle deposition approach. And, more importantly, we demonstrate highly efficient electrical carrier injection into the nanorods. As a result, we show that at a 20 mA dc current injection, the light output power density of our nanorod LED array is 3700 mW cm−2. More general, this contact scheme will pave the ways for making direct contacts to other kinds of nanoscale optoelectronic devices.

Design of mid-IR and THz quantum cascade laser cavities with complete TM photonic bandgap

We present the design of mid-infrared and THz quantum cascade laser cavities formed from planar photonic crystals with a complete in-plane photonic bandgap. The design is based on a honeycomb lattice, and achieves a full in-plane photonic gap for transverse-magnetic polarized light while preserving a connected pattern for efficient electrical injection. Candidate defects modes for lasing are identified. This lattice is then used as a model system to demonstrate a novel effect: under certain conditions - that are typically satisfied in the THz range - a complete photonic gap can be obtained by the sole patterning of the top metal contact. This possibility greatly reduces the required fabrication complexity and avoids potential damage of the semiconductor active region.

Encapsulation for efficient electrical injection of photonic crystal defect mode surface-emitting lasers

We propose and report an encapsulated photonic crystal concept for efficient electrical injection of photonic crystal surface-emitting lasers. Detailed rate equation analysis reveals a significant threshold current reduction by minimizing the surface-state-induced carrier loss. The impact of encapsulation on the photonic band gap is discussed for different encapsulation conditions. Experimental results on encapsulation process are reported, based on nanoparticle self-assembly.

Field-effect electroluminescence in silicon nanocrystals

There is currently worldwide interest in developing silicon-based active optical components in order to leverage the infrastructure of silicon microelectronics technology for the fabrication of optoelectronic devices. Light emission in bulk silicon-based devices is constrained in wavelength to infrared emission, and in efficiency by the indirect bandgap of silicon. One promising strategy for overcoming these challenges is to make use of quantum-confined excitonic emission in silicon nanocrystals. A critical challenge for silicon nanocrystal devices based on nanocrystals embedded in silicon dioxide has been the development of a method for efficient electrical carrier injection. We report here a scheme for electrically pumping dense silicon nanocrystal arrays by a field-effect electroluminescence mechanism. In this excitation process, electrons and holes are both injected from the same semiconductor channel across a tunnelling barrier in a sequential programming process, in contrast to simultaneous carrier injection in conventional pn-junction light-emitting-diode structures. Light emission is strongly correlated with the injection of a second carrier into a nanocrystal that has been previously programmed with a charge of the opposite sign.

Robust electrical spin injection into a semiconductor heterostructure

We report efficient electrical injection of spin-polarized carriers from a non-lattice-matched magnetic contact into a semiconductor heterostructure. The semimagnetic semiconductor ${\mathrm{Zn}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{Mn}}_{x}\mathrm{Se}$ is used as a spin-injecting contact on a GaAs-based light-emitting diode. Spin-polarized electrons are electrically injected across the II-VI/III-V interface, where they radiatively recombine in a GaAs quantum well and emit circularly polarized light. An analysis of the optical polarization which includes quantum confinement effects yields a lower bound of 50% for the spin injection efficiency.