Enhanced vertical light extraction from ultrathin amorphous Si-Si 3N4 multilayers with photonic crystal patterns

Abstract

We have investigated the significant enhancement of light extraction from amorphous Si-Si3N4 multiple-quantum-well structures, in which two-dimensional hexagonal-lattice air-hole photonic crystals (PCs) were integrated. The vertical spectral integrated intensity of light emission around 674 nm was enhanced up to ∼ 1.24-2.1 times due to strong coupling to the inherent lesaky modes or radiation modes near Γ point of PC's band structure. The experimental observations also suggested that coupling to leaky modes should be more beneficial for light extraction enhancement.