Infrared electroluminescence from a Si MOS structure with Ge in the oxide

We report on room-temperature infrared electroluminescence (EL) from metal-oxide-semiconductor devices made from Si. We compare the luminescence from RF sputtered oxide films containing SiO2 with and without Ge by using a composite target and luminescence from a SiO2 layer made by rapid thermal oxidation. The sputtered films were annealed in the temperature range 600–900 °C. This densifies the films and is likely to reduce the concentration of defects. A luminescence peak located around 1150–1170 nm is observed at current densities as low as 0.1 A/cm2. The corresponding photon energy is close to that of the Si band gap. In addition, we observe several broad luminescence bands in the range 1000–1750 nm. These bands get stronger with Ge in the SiO2 film. Some of these bands have previously been suggested and are directly associated with Ge. Since we observe that the intensity is correlated with the presence of Ge while the mere presence of the bands is not, we discuss the EL bands being due to defects which concentration is influenced by Ge in the oxide.