NANOSTRUCTURE LIGHT EMITTERS USING PLASMON-PHOTON COUPLING

摘要

A metal plasma light emitter includes a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structure (40) on a substrate (20). The MIM structure (40) includes a top metal layer (41) and a bottom metal layer (43) sandwiching an insulator layer (42) in between. A plurality of nanoholes are in at least the top metal layer. A passivation and frequency-matching layer (50) is formed over the MIM structure to reduce a mismatch in plasma frequencies at an output interface. The surface plasma oscillation is excited by hot electrons injected through the thin insulator layer (42). The devices generates light that matches the frequencies of surface plasma in metal thin films. The emission covers the spectrum in the visible and ultra violet (UV) regimes. The nanostructure built in the metal thin film enhances the external optical efficiency from 10<-5> to as high as 10<-1>, making the device an extremely attractive light source for illumination, signs, displays, and biomedical applications.