Research on forward-biased Si-LED arrays with low operating voltage and high conversion efficiency based on standard CMOS process

Abstract

Optical interconnection has been studied to replace electronic interconnection because of its significant performance advantages,such as high speed and low crosstalk.Silicon based light emitting device(Si-LED)with low operating voltage and high conversion efficiency is the key to realizing optical interconnection.Based on the n+source/drain region of standard CMOS technology,this work designs and fabricates an Si-LED array with wedge-shaped n+pn+configuration in the commercial standard 0.18μm1P6MCMOS process offered by United Microelectronic Corporation(UMC)without any modification.The measurement results indicate that the designed Si-LED can operate properly between 0.9Vand1.5V,which is compatible with the power supply of CMOS integrated circuits.When the device is forward-biased,the light emitting spectrum of the Si-LED has a peak at about 1100 nm.An optical power of1 800 nW is obtained at a forward current of 390 mA,and the power conversion efficiency is 3.5×10-6.Due to the features of low operating voltage and high optical power,our Si-LED can be monolithically integrated with the CMOS circuits,and has a potential application in the field of optical interconnections.