Efficient light emitting diodes based on nanoscale silicon

After giving an overview about various approaches for silicon based light emitters, we will present our results on Si light emitting diodes prepared by high-dose boron implantation. The electroluminescence (EL) increases with temperature, resulting in a wall-plug efficiency of 0.1% at room temperature. Extensive low-temperature EL measurements allow us to put forward a model, which is based on the interplay between free excitons/carriers and excitons localized at nanoscale boron doping spikes. Finally, we demonstrate an electrically driven resonant-cavity LED based on silicon.