Bright green electroluminescence from Tb3+ in silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor devices

Bright green electroluminescence with luminance up to 2800 cd/m2 is reported from indium-tin-oxide/SiO2:Tb/Si metal-oxide-semiconductor devices. The SiO2:Tb3+ gate oxide was prepared by thermal oxidation followed by Tb+ implantation. Electroluminescence and photoluminescence properties were studied with variations of the Tb3+ ion concentration and the annealing temperature. The optimized device shows a high external quantum efficiency of 16 % and a luminous efficiency of 2.1 lm/W. The excitation processes of the strong green electroluminescence are attributed to the impact excitation of the Tb3+ luminescent centers by hot electrons and the subsequent cross-relaxation from 5D3 to 5D4 energy levels. Light emitting devices with micrometer size fabricated by the standard metal-oxide-semiconductor technology are demonstrated