Abstract
We report an avalanche-mode light-emitting transistor (AMLET) in silicon
(Si), based on a lateral bipolar junction, which emits light near 760 nm
optical wavelength with a record low bandwidth of 38 nm. The AMLET,
designed in a CMOS-compatible silicon-on-insulator (SOI) photonics
platform, is optically confined within a 0.21 μm thick SOI layer, which
forms a Fabry-Perot (FP) resonator perpendicular to the Si surface.
Light is emitted from the reverse biased emitter-base junction via
phonon-assisted hot carrier recombination and, additionally, minority
carriers are injected via the forward-biased Base-Collector junction.
The combination of injection from collector terminal through a narrow
base and FP optical resonance, yields a high optical power efficiency of
4.3×10−6 at VBC = 0.8 V and VEB = 10 V. Our work opens new possibilities
in spectralengineering of Si light-emitters, which could boost
performance of all-Si optical interconnects and sensors.