Light Emission Excited by Schottky Hot Electrons in A1-MgF₂-Au( Cu) Thin-Film Devices

A new type of light-emitting device with Al-MgF₂-Au(Cu) junction and the role of residual O₂ in fabrication of Al-MgF₂-Au(Cu) thin film devices were reported in our other papers. In this paper, we made a further careful investigation about its current-voltage (I - V), current-temperature (I - T) characteristics and the observed light emission spectra in detail. We find the presence of Schottky high field emission in an evaporated sandwich structure of Al-MgF₂-Au(Cu) junctions, and argue that the radiation process is mainly due to Schottky hot electrons, which excite surface plasmon-polariton (SPP), then SPP couples to external radiation through surface roughness.