skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Bright electroluminescence in ambient conditions from WSe2 p-n diodes using pulsed injection

Journal Article · · Applied Physics Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5100306· OSTI ID:1638990

Transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) monolayers are promising materials for next-generation nanoscale optoelectronics, including high-speed light sources and detectors. However, most past reports on TMDC light-emitting diodes are limited to operation in high vacuum, while most applications require operation under ambient conditions. Here, we study the time-resolved electroluminescence of monolayer WSe2 p-n junctions under ambient conditions and identify the decay in current over time as the main issue preventing stable device operation. We show that pulsed voltage bias overcomes this issue and results in bright electroluminescence under ambient conditions. This is achieved in a simple single-gate structure, without the use of dual gates, heterostructures, or doping methods. Internal quantum efficiency of electroluminescence reaches ~1%, close to the photoluminescence quantum efficiency, indicating efficient exciton formation with injected carriers. Emission intensity is stable over hours of device operation. Finally, our device exhibits ~15 ns rise and fall times, the fastest direct modulation speed reported for TMDC light-emitting diodes.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division; National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOD
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; ECCS-0939514
OSTI ID:
1638990
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1530477
Journal Information:
Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 115, Issue 1; ISSN 0003-6951
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 13 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (29)

Light-emitting diodes by band-structure engineering in van der Waals heterostructures journal February 2015
A sub-thermionic MoS 2 FET with tunable transport journal October 2017
Large array fabrication of high performance monolayer MoS 2 photodetectors journal July 2017
Hysteresis in Single-Layer MoS 2 Field Effect Transistors journal May 2012
Hysteresis in the transfer characteristics of MoS 2 transistors journal October 2017
Graphene-Contacted Ultrashort Channel Monolayer MoS 2 Transistors journal July 2017
Leveraging Nanocavity Harmonics for Control of Optical Processes in 2D Semiconductors journal April 2015
Exciton Radiative Lifetimes in Two-Dimensional Transition Metal Dichalcogenides journal March 2015
Large-area and bright pulsed electroluminescence in monolayer semiconductors journal March 2018
Giant photoluminescence enhancement in tungsten-diselenide–gold plasmonic hybrid structures journal May 2016
Electrically tunable excitonic light-emitting diodes based on monolayer WSe2 p–n junctions journal March 2014
WSe 2 Light-Emitting Tunneling Transistors with Enhanced Brightness at Room Temperature journal November 2015
Recombination Kinetics and Effects of Superacid Treatment in Sulfur- and Selenium-Based Transition Metal Dichalcogenides journal March 2016
Optoelectronic devices based on electrically tunable p–n diodes in a monolayer dichalcogenide journal March 2014
Solar-energy conversion and light emission in an atomic monolayer p–n diode journal March 2014
Nanocavity Integrated van der Waals Heterostructure Light-Emitting Tunneling Diode journal December 2016
Interlayer Exciton Optoelectronics in a 2D Heterostructure p–n Junction journal January 2017
Single-layer MoS2 transistors journal January 2011
High-Performance Single Layered WSe2 p-FETs with Chemically Doped Contacts journal June 2012
High Performance Multilayer MoS2Transistors with Scandium Contacts journal December 2012
High-Performance WS 2 Monolayer Light-Emitting Tunneling Devices Using 2D Materials Grown by Chemical Vapor Deposition journal March 2019
Sub-bandgap Voltage Electroluminescence and Magneto-oscillations in a WSe 2 Light-Emitting van der Waals Heterostructure journal February 2017
High-Speed Scalable Silicon-MoS2 P-N Heterojunction Photodetectors journal March 2017
Solar-energy conversion and light emission in an atomic monolayer p-n diode text January 2013
Light-emitting diodes by bandstructure engineering in van der Waals heterostructures text January 2014
WSe2 light-emitting tunneling transistors with enhanced brightness at room temperature text January 2015
Interlayer Exciton Optoelectronics in a 2D Heterostructure p-n Junction text January 2017
Sub-bandgap voltage electroluminescence and magneto-oscillations in a WSe2 light-emitting van der Waals heterostructure text January 2017
Hysteresis in the transfer characteristics of MoS2 transistors text January 2017