Single-Mode, Broadband, Near Infrared Light Emission from Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Tunnel Junctions in Silicon Photonics

Achieving electrically driven light sources on a silicon substrate is one of the great challenges in integrated optics. For low-power applications, one possible candidate could be Light Emitting Tunnel Junctions (LETJs) [1] . Unlike many semiconductor light sources that rely on direct-bandgap materials, the emission characteristics of LETJs are not strongly dependent on the material choice, but are determined by the electrical and optical environment of the tunnelling interface. While most electrons tunnel elastically from one electrode to the other, some can couple to and excite electromagnetic modes in a broad range of frequencies, spanning the microwave to the visible [1] – [3] .