Electroluminescence efficiencies of erbium in silicon-based hosts

International audienceWe report on room-temperature 1.5 lm electroluminescence from trivalent erbium (Er3þ) ionsembedded in three different CMOS-compatible silicon-based hosts: SiO2, Si3N4, and SiNx. We showthat although the insertion of either nitrogen or excess silicon helps enhance electrical conductionand reduce the onset voltage for electroluminescence, it drastically decreases the external quantumefficiency of Er3þ ions from 2% in SiO2 to 0.001% and 0.0004% in SiNx and Si3N4, respectively.Furthermore, we present strong evidence that hot carrier injection is significantly more efficient thandefect-assisted conduction for the electrical excitation of Er3þ ions. These results suggest strategiesto optimize the engineering of on-chip electrically excited silicon-based nanophotonic light sources