Electroluminescence of erbium-oxygen-doped silicon diodes grown by molecular beam epitaxy

We have fabricated erbium-oxygen-doped silicon light emitting diodes with molecular beam epitaxy by simultaneously evaporating erbium and silicon and providing a suitable background pressure of oxygen. In reverse bias, the diodes show intense room-temperature electroluminescence at lambda = 1.54 mu m originating from the intra-4f transition or erbium. This luminescence does not show temperature quenching between 4 and 300 K. In forward bias the erbium peak intensity is reduced by a factor of 30 at low temperatures and shows temperature quenching. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.