1Key Laboratory of Polar Materials and Devices, Ministry of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China
2National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Micro/Nano Fabrication Laboratory, Department of Micro/Nano Electronics, University of Michigan-Shanghai Jiao Tong University Joint Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
3Max-Born-Institut für Nichtlineare Optik und Kurzzeitspektroskopie, 12489 Berlin, Germany
4National Laboratory for Infrared Physics, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200083, China
Silicon-based light sources, including light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes (LDs) for information transmission, are urgently needed for developing monolithic integrated silicon photonics. Silicon with erbium ions () doped by ion implantation is considered a promising approach, but it suffers from an extremely low quantum efficiency. Here we report an electrically pumped superlinear emission at 1.54 μm from Er/O-doped silicon planar LEDs, which are produced by applying a new deep cooling process. Stimulated emission at room temperature is realized with a low threshold current of (). Time-resolved photoluminescence and photocurrent results have revealed the complex carrier transfer dynamics by relaxing electrons from the Si conduction band to the ion. This picture differs from the frequently assumed energy transfer via electron–hole pair recombination of the silicon host. Moreover, the amplified emission from the LEDs is likely due to a quasi-continuous Er/O-related donor band created by the deep cooling technique. This work paves the way for fabricating superluminescent diodes or efficient LEDs at communication wavelengths based on rare-earth-doped silicon.