SILICON LIGHT EMITTING DEVICE UTILIZING RADIATIVE CARRIER RECOMBINATION IN OXIDE

摘要

A light emitting device (10) comprises a body (12) of a semiconductor material. A junction region (28) comprising a depletion region is formed between a first region (16) of the body of a first conductivity type and a second region (18) of the body of a second conductivity type. A mechanism (20) provides a preferential breakdown region in the junction region. A body (24) of an insulating material is located adjacent the preferential breakdown region. The junction is configured to be driven into a breakdown mode in at least the preferential breakdown region, for oppositely charged carriers to be generated and for the oppositely charged carriers to tunnel into the body (24) of an insulating material and in a recombination region (26) of the body (24) of an insulating material, to recombine and to generate light.