Pulsed Electroluminescent Devices for Emission Across Energy and Length Scales

Unusual device architectures may open up unexpected opportunities for optoelectronic devices. For example, the range of luminescent materials that can be easily integrated in light-emitting devices is often limited by material processing and band alignment issues. This hinders the development of electroluminescent devices at extreme wavelengths and the use of electroluminescence spectroscopy as an analytical technique. In this thesis, I explore an unconventional scheme of electrically-driven light emission based on pulsed metal-oxidesemiconductor capacitor devices. This concept can be used to produce electroluminescence from a wide range of materials including bulk semiconductors, two-dimensional semiconductors, colloidal quantum dots, organic molecules, and more. The performance of this light-emitting device is studied through simulation and experiment, and practical characterization is undertaken with different alternating-current driving schemes. By scaling the device, low voltage operation of these devices is further demonstrated. The device not only achieves emission spanning the near-ultraviolet to near-infrared energy spectrum, but also offers a straightforward avenue towards achieving electroluminescence from materials with different physical compositions and length scales spanning single particles to thick films. As a result of the scalable fabrication approach, miniaturized arrays of many different color light-emitting devices can be easily created on a monolithic substrate. The potential of this device platform for spectroscopic applications is illustrated by spectral imaging demonstrations which combine compressive sensing-based algorithms with highly multicolored and multiplexed light-emitting arrays.