Room-temperature electroluminescence from Si/Ge/Si1−<i>x</i>Ge<i>x</i> quantum-well diodes grown by molecular-beam epitaxy

Abstract

Tunable room-temperature electroluminescence, photocurrent, and photoluminescence in the near infrared (λ∼1.3 μm) has been observed from Ge/Si/Ge/Si1−xGex quantum-well (QW) diodes grown by molecular-beam epitaxy. The QWs are grown on a p+-doped 〈100〉-Si substrate and consist of two thin Ge wells separated by a thicker Si middle layer, and the whole structure is embedded by two Si0.85Ge0.15 alloy layers. Our theoretical analysis of the data suggests that the strength of the spectra is linked to states localized at the interface.