Light emission in silicon: from device physics to applications

Silicon Photonics is an emerging field of research and technology, where nano-silicon can play a fundamental role. Visible light emitted from reverse-biased p-n junctions at highly localized regions, where avalanche breakdown occurs, can be used to realize a visible electro-optical sources in silicon by means of light-emitting diodes (Si-LEDs) is reviewed by characterizing the spectral distribution. Regarding applications, a monolithic optoelectronic integrated circuit (OEIC) for on-chip optical interconnection based on standard CMOS technology is discussed. Although there are some of the present challenges with regard to the realization of suitable electro-optical elements for diverse integrated circuit applications, the type of silicon light source can be further developed into be a Si-based optical short-distance on-chip optical interconnect applications.