Mid-infrared resonant light emission from GeSn resonant-cavity surface-emitting LEDs with a lateral p-i-n structure

Abstract

We demonstrate room-temperature, mid-infrared resonant electroluminescence from GeSn resonant-cavity LEDs with a lateral p-i-n configuration on a silicon-on-insulator substrate. A vertical cavity to enhance light emission in the GeSn active layer is formed by the low-index buried oxide and deposited <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline" id="m1"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>SiO</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> layer. A planar lateral p-i-n diode structure favorable for CMOS-compatible, dense integration was designed and fabricated for current injection. Under continuous-wave electrical injection, room-temperature resonant electroluminescence was successfully observed at <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline" id="m2"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo form="prefix">∼</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1980</mml:mn> <mml:mtext> </mml:mtext> <mml:mi>nm</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> with a spectral emission factor of 2.2. These results could pave the way toward efficient electrically injected GeSn light emitters operating at room temperature.