High-efficiency silicon LED with ultra-wideband emission from visible to infrared at room temperature

TL;DR

This paper reports a silicon LED capable of ultra-wideband emission from visible to infrared at room temperature, with significantly improved efficiency and power density, enabling various optical applications.

Contribution

The authors developed a broadband silicon LED emitting from 600-1650 nm using femtosecond laser annealing, achieving unprecedented efficiency and power density among silicon-based LEDs.

Findings

External quantum efficiency exceeds 0.26%

Output optical power density >20 W/cm2

Broadband emission from 600-1650 nm

Abstract

The primary challenge in silicon photonics is achieving efficient luminescence in the communication band, crucial for its large-scale application. Despite significant efforts, silicon light sources still suffer from low efficiency and limited emission wavelengths. We addressed this by achieving broadband luminescence from 600-1650 nm through femtosecond laser annealing of 220nm standard SOI, resulting in an external quantum efficiency exceeding 0.26% and an output optical power density greater than 20 W/cm2, several orders of magnitude higher than other silicon-based LEDs in performance. The broadband LED has potential applications in optical inspection, gas sensing, optical coherence tomography, optical communication, and more.