Observation of optical gain in ultra-thin silicon resonant cavity light-emitting diode

Abstract

We have observed net optical gain by current injections to ultra-thin Si embedded in a resonant optical cavity. The cavity consists of a dielectric waveguide fabricated by CMOS and MEMS process. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra show narrow resonances peaked at the designed wavelength, and the electroluminescence (EL) intensity increases super-linearly with currents. The comparisons with first principle calculations suggest that the optical gain is originated from intrinsic material properties of ultra-thin Si due to quantum confinements.