Silicon light emissions from boron implant-induced extended defects

We studied the electroluminescence (EL) of boron-implanted p-n junction Si LEDs in correlation with the implant-induced extended defects of different types. By varying the post implant annealing conditions to tune the extended defects and by using plan-view transmission electron microscopy to identify them, we found that {113} defects along Sil 〈10〉 are the ones that result in strong silicon light emission of the p-n junction Si LEDs other than {111} perfect prismatic and {111} faulted Frank dislocation loops. The EL peak intensity at about 1.1 eV of {113} defect-engineered Si LEDs is about twenty-five times higher than that of dislocation defect-engineered Si LEDs. The EL measured at temperatures from room temperature to 4 K indicated that the emissions related to the extended defects are from silicon band edge radiative recombination.