Picosecond Hot Electron Light Emission from Sub-Micron CMOS Circuits

        Optical emission consisting of pulses with temporal widths of less than 270 psec has been detected from fully functional silicon integrated circuits fabricated using submicron CMOS gates. Emission is observed under normal bias conditions and occurs when the gates are switching. The emission arises from the hot electron populations created by the transient current pulses present in the MOSFET's during switching. The speed and spectral characteristics of the emission suggest future applications in the measurement of timing in high speed CMOS circuits.

By: J. C. Tsang and J. A. Kash

Published in: RC20577 in 1996

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