Dislocations as Active Components in Novel Silicon Devices

The electrical and optical properties of dislocations in Si are reviewed, namely dislocation-related recombination and luminescence, transport of minority and majority carriers along dislocations or the electric field around dislocations. It is shown that Si wafer direct bonding allows well-controlled formation of dislocation networks, giving rise to adjustable dislocation properties. Ideas for novel Si devices utilizing dislocations as active components are presented. In particular, dislocation-based light emitters at about 1.5 μm wavelength are demonstrated. Concepts for dislocation-based conductive channels and fast FETs, manipulators of biomolecules or thermo-electric generators are sketched.