Room-temperature direct bandgap electroluminesence from Ge-on-Si light-emitting diodes

We report what we believe to be the first demonstration of direct bandgap electroluminescence (EL) from Ge/Si heterojunction light-emitting diodes (LEDs) at room temperature. In-plane biaxial tensile strain is used to engineer the band structure of Ge to enhance the direct gap luminescence efficiency by increasing the injected electron population in the direct Gamma valley. Room-temperature EL is observed at the direct gap energy from a Ge/Si p-i-n diode exhibiting the same characteristics of the direct gap photoluminescence of Ge. The integral direct gap EL intensity increases superlinearly with electrical current owing to an indirect valley filling effect. These results indicate a promising future of tensile-strained Ge-on-Si for electrically pumped, monolithically integrated light emitters on Si.