Planar Silicon Light Emitting Arrays For The 3-12 Mu M Spectral Band

Silicon light emitting diode arrays made by industrial planar technology and operating at T>300 K in the double injection mode have been shown to be an efficient emitters of the infrared (IR) radiation in the 3-12 mu m spectral band. We show that due to free carrier injection in an optically thin base, which makes its emissivity to increase at the wavelengths of the free carrier absorption, the devices have thermal emission output power of 2-3 mW and local power density up to 1 mW/mm(2) at T=473 K. The 0.5-mm-thick 6x6 mm(2) emitting pixel of an array demonstrates the power conversion efficiency of 13%, a time response of 300 mu s, and an apparent temperature of the IR radiation of 400 K, which make the device practical for use in IR dynamic scene simulation techniques.