Charge trapping phenomena in high efficiency Metal-Oxide-Silicon light-emitting diodes with ion-implanted oxide

This work is a comparative study of the processes of charge trapping in silicon dioxide layers doped with different rare-earth impurities (Gd, Tb, Er) as well as with Ge. Diode structures incorporating such oxide layers exhibit efficient electroluminescence (EL) in the spectral range from UV to IR.
Ion implantation was performed over a wide dose range using doses chosen to provide impurity concentrations of 0.1 to 3 at. % with the implant profiles peaking in the middle of the oxide. Post-implantation anneals were carried out at different temperatures. An ITO layer was employed as the transparent gate electrode for the implanted SiO2/Si light emitting diodes (LEDs).
Charge trapping was studied using an electron injection technique at constant current regime in the range of 1013 to 1021 e/cm2 with simultaneous measurements of the EL intensity. High-frequency C/V characteristics were used to control the net charge in the oxides. The I/V characteristics and the EL intensity vs. applied voltage were also measured.
Analysis of the charge trapping and the variation of the EL intensity during electron injection shows that the current density range can be conveniently divided in three portions: (i) low injection level, where electron/hole capture at traps with a large capture cross-sections and low EL intensity occurs; (ii) medium injection level corresponding to the main operation mode of the LEDs (odd hole trapping depending on the injected current level is observed); and (iii) high injection level (electrical quenching of the EL, which correlates with electron capture at traps of extremely small capture cross-sections of about 10-21 cm2 takes place). The parameters of the hole and electron traps are determined.
The nature of specific electron hole trapping at the medium injection level in RE doped MOSLEDs is discussed. Mechanisms of EL quenching at the high injection level are proposed.