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Efficient narrow-band light emission from a single carbon nanotube p–n diode

Nature Nanotechnology volume 5, pages 27–31 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

Electrically driven light emission from carbon nanotubes1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 could be used in nanoscale lasers9 and single-photon sources10, and has therefore been the focus of much research. However, high electric fields and currents have either been necessary for electroluminescence4,5,6,7,8, or have been an undesired side effect2,3, leading to high power requirements and low efficiencies. Furthermore, electroluminescent linewidths have been broad enough to obscure the contributions of individual optical transitions. Here, we report electrically induced light emission from individual carbon nanotube p–n diodes. A new level of control over electrical carrier injection is achieved, reducing power dissipation by a factor of up to 1,000, and resulting in zero threshold current, negligible self-heating and high carrier-to-photon conversion efficiencies. Moreover, the electroluminescent spectra are significantly narrower (∼35 meV) than in previous studies1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8, allowing the identification of emission from free and localized excitons.

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Figure 1: Device structure and electronic characteristics.
Figure 2: Identification of the light emission mechanism.
Figure 3: Electroluminescence spectra.
Figure 4: Comparison between ambipolar and unipolar light emission.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Z. Chen, M. Freitag, Y.-M. Lin, E. E. Mendez and F. Xia for helpful discussions, and B. A. Ek for technical assistance. T.M. acknowledges financial support by the Austrian Science Fund FWF (Erwin Schrödinger fellowship J2705-N16).

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  1. Thomas Mueller and Megumi Kinoshita: These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York, 10598, USA

    Thomas Mueller, Megumi Kinoshita, Mathias Steiner, Vasili Perebeinos, Ageeth A. Bol, Damon B. Farmer & Phaedon Avouris

  2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, 11794, USA

    Megumi Kinoshita

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  1. Thomas Mueller
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Contributions

T.M. and M.K. were responsible for the experimental work. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Thomas Mueller or Phaedon Avouris.

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Mueller, T., Kinoshita, M., Steiner, M. et al. Efficient narrow-band light emission from a single carbon nanotube p–n diode. Nature Nanotech 5, 27–31 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2009.319

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