Analysis of optical gain threshold in n-doped and tensile-strained germanium heterostructure diodes

The optical emission of germanium-based luminescent and/or laser devices can be enhanced by tensile strain and n-type doping. In this work, we study by simulation the interplay between electrical transport and optical gain in highly n-doped and intrinsic germanium p-n heterostructure diodes under tensile strain. The effects of strain and doping on carrier mobilities and energy distribution are taken into account. Whereas the n-doping of Ge enhances the filling of the indirect L and Brillouin zone-center conduction band states, the n-doping also reduces the carrier injection efficiency, which is detrimental for the achievement of optical gain at reduced current densities. For applied biaxial strains larger than 1.25%, i.e., far before reaching the cross-over from indirect to direct band gap regime, undoped germanium exhibits a lower optical gain threshold as compared to doped germanium. We also show that the threshold current needed to reach transparency in germanium heterostructures has been significantly underestimated in the previous works. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.