Enhanced red light emission from dense Si quantum dot-based silicon oxynitride light-emitting diodes with reduced efficiency droop

Strong red light emission from silicon oxynitride-based (SiOxNy-based) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) was investigated. The introduction of dense Si quantum dots (Si QDs) into SiOxNy not only increases carrier injection efficiency but also results in a significant enhancement of more than 300% in the light emission efficiency compared with SiO(x)N(y )based LEDs without Si QDs. Moreover, the efficiency droop phenomenon is remarkably suppressed in the SiOxNy based LED containing dense Si QDs. Analysis of the dominant recombination process indicates that the improved performance of the SiO(x)N(y )based LEDs results from the increased bimolecular radiative recombination probability.