Room Temperature Electroluminescence from Tensile-Strained Si0.13Ge0.87/Ge Multiple Quantum Wells on a Ge Virtual Substrate

Guangyang Lin; Ningli Chen; Lu Zhang; Zhiwei Huang; Wei Huang; Jianyuan Wang; Jianfang Xu; Songyan Chen; Cheng Li

doi:10.3390/ma9100803

Room Temperature Electroluminescence from Tensile-Strained Si_0.13Ge_0.87/Ge Multiple Quantum Wells on a Ge Virtual Substrate

Materials (Basel). 2016 Sep 27;9(10):803. doi: 10.3390/ma9100803.

Authors

Guangyang Lin¹, Ningli Chen², Lu Zhang³, Zhiwei Huang⁴, Wei Huang⁵, Jianyuan Wang⁶, Jianfang Xu⁷, Songyan Chen⁸, Cheng Li⁹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, OSED, Semiconductor Photonics Research Center, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, Fujian, China. linguangyang@stu.xmu.edu.cn.
² Department of Physics, OSED, Semiconductor Photonics Research Center, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, Fujian, China. chenningli9375@163.com.
³ Department of Physics, OSED, Semiconductor Photonics Research Center, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, Fujian, China. zhanglu.225@163.com.
⁴ Department of Physics, OSED, Semiconductor Photonics Research Center, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, Fujian, China. 18959206002@163.com.
⁵ Department of Physics, OSED, Semiconductor Photonics Research Center, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, Fujian, China. weihuang@xmu.edu.cn.
⁶ Department of Physics, OSED, Semiconductor Photonics Research Center, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, Fujian, China. wangjianyuan@xmu.edu.cn.
⁷ Department of Physics, OSED, Semiconductor Photonics Research Center, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, Fujian, China. jfxu@xmu.edu.cn.
⁸ Department of Physics, OSED, Semiconductor Photonics Research Center, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, Fujian, China. sychen@xmu.edu.cn.
⁹ Department of Physics, OSED, Semiconductor Photonics Research Center, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, Fujian, China. lich@xmu.edu.cn.

Abstract

Direct band electroluminescence (EL) from tensile-strained Si_0.13Ge_0.87/Ge multiple quantum wells (MQWs) on a Ge virtual substrate (VS) at room temperature is reported herein. Due to the competitive result of quantum confinement Stark effect and bandgap narrowing induced by tensile strain in Ge wells, electroluminescence from Γ1-HH1 transition in 12-nm Ge wells was observed at around 1550 nm. As injection current density increases, additional emission shoulders from Γ2-HH2 transition in Ge wells and Ge VS appeared at around 1300-1400 nm and 1600-1700 nm, respectively. The peak energy of EL shifted to the lower energy side superquadratically with an increase of injection current density as a result of the Joule heating effect. During the elevation of environmental temperature, EL intensity increased due to a reduction of energy between L and Γ valleys of Ge. Empirical fitting of the relationship between the integrated intensity of EL (L) and injection current density (J) with L~J^m shows that the m factor increased with injection current density, suggesting higher light emitting efficiency of the diode at larger injection current densities, which can be attributed to larger carrier occupations in the Γ valley and the heavy hole (HH) valance band at higher temperatures.

Keywords: SiGe/Ge multiple quantum wells; electroluminescence; tensile strain; ultra-high vacuum chemical vapor deposition (UHVCVD).