The effect of potassium and fluorine implantation on the electroluminescence stability in Gd and Tb implanted SiO2 layers

Metal-Oxide-Silicon-based light emitting diodes (MOSLEDs) with Gd and Tb implanted SiO2 layers exhibit strong ultra violet and green electroluminescence (EL) at 316 nm and 541 nm, respectively. If amorphous SiO2 is bombarded with energetic ions, various types of defects are created as a consequence of ion-solid interaction and annealing processes (oxygen deficiency centres (ODC), non-bridging oxygen hole centres (NBOHC), E’-centres, etc.) leading to charge trapping effects during electrical excitation. Elimination or neutralisation of such defects is very important from the viewpoint of electrical stability of MOSLEDs. It will be demonstrated that (i) an additional fluorine implant into SiO2:Gd and SiO2:Tb layers leads to a decrease of E’-centres and ODC´s improving the efficiency of the MOSLEDs; and (ii), an additional potassium implant produces positive ions leading to a compensation effect for the negatively charged electron traps and, hence, to an reduced quenching of the EL efficiency and increased MOSLED lifetime .