Room-temperature visible electroluminescence of Al-doped silicon oxide films

A series of Al-doped amorphous silicon oxide films have been grown on p-type silicon (100) substrates by a dual ion beam cosputtering method. Visible electroluminescence (EL) from the devices, made by films with different contents of Al, can be seen with the naked eye under forward bias and reverse bias for films containing sufficient amounts of Al. The EL spectra are found to have a luminescence band peaked at 510 nm (2.4 eV), which is the same result as that obtained from silicon oxide films. With the increase in the amounts of Al, the peak position does not shift, the onset of the bias decreases, and the intensity of EL peak increases. Experiment results show that the doping of Al is beneficial to improving the conduction condition of films while the structure of the films associated with luminescence centers is affected hardly at all. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.