Experimental verification of the mechanism of hot-carrier-induced photon emission in n-MOSFETs using an overlapping CCD gate structure

Experimental data are presented to verify the physical mechanism of hot-carrier-induced photon emission in n-MOSFETs. Using MOSFETs with an overlapping CCD gate structure, the multiple gates are biased to create hot-electron populations either at the drain junction or at the interelectrode gap regions. The results show that the magnitudes of the photon-generated minority carriers collected were comparable for hot-carrier-induced photons emitted from the drain junction and from the interelectrode gap regions, although the density of oppositely charged Coulomb centers (i.e. ionized drain dopants) available for bremsstrahlung in the interelectrode gap region is zero. These results show unambiguously that, for above-bandgap low-energy photons, bremsstrahlung of hot electrons in the Coulomb field of oppositely charged centers is not the dominant mechanism responsible for hot-carrier-induced photon emission in n-MOSFETs.<>