Strong green electroluminescence from silicon based oxide films

Electroluminescence (EL) devices have been fabricated on three types of silicon based oxide films (Ge–SiO2 films, Si–SiO2 films, and Al–SiO2 films). Visible EL from the devices can be seen with the naked eye when the bias voltage greater than a critical value is applied. Each EL spectrum is found to have only one luminescence band peaked at 510 nm and the peak position does not shift with the bias voltage, annealing temperature, and the type of doping atoms in Si oxide matrixes. Spectra analyses suggest that the origin of EL can be attributed to the luminescence centers (LCs) in the silicon oxide films.