Direct modulation of electroluminescence from silicon nanocrystals beyond radiative recombination rates

We propose a light emitting transistor based on silicon nanocrystals provided with 200 Mbits /s built-in modulation. Suppression of electroluminescence from silicon nanocrystals embedded into the gate oxide of a field effect transistor is achieved by fast Auger quenching. In this process, a modulating drain signal causes heating of carriers in the channel and facilitates the charge injection into the nanocrystals. This excess of charge enables fast nonradiative processes that are used to obtain 100% modulation depths at modulating voltages of 1 V. © 2008 American Institute of Physics. DOI: 10.1063/1.2889499