在半导体上用金属整流接触所构成的肖特基二极管,在反向偏压下可有场致发光。作者用硒化锌作了详细的实验,以阐明它的工作机理。电子从金属隧道进入半导体,在耗尽层场中被加速,然后通过在导带内产生辐射跃迁或者碰撞离化,碰撞激发发光中心而发光。 导带内热电子跃迁引起的发光能够给出关于带结构的数据,而这些数据用其他方法是难于得到的。这种发光过程可望制成有较快的上升和下降时间的场致发光二极管,虽然其效率比较低。 发光中心的碰撞离化可以通过倍增测量来研究,其结果与场致发光测量密切相关。本文提出了一种简单的碰撞激发场致发光理论,由此引伸的碰撞离化,已得到证实。这个理论对用作光源的二极管的有关过程和性能,作了定量的描述。 已经用ZnSe制成了在适当电压和电流下用于显示的具有足够光输出的发光二极管。对于用其他材料的有关的工作也进行了描述。 Schottky diodes made of metal rectifying contacts on semiconductors have electroluminescence under reverse bias. The author made a detailed experiment with zinc selenide to clarify its working mechanism. The electrons enter the semiconductor from the metal tunnel and are accelerated in the depletion layer field and then emit light by colliding with the excitation light center by generating a radiation transition or collision ionization within the conduction band. The glow caused by the hot electron transitions in the conduction band gives data on the band structure that is otherwise difficult to obtain. This light-emitting process is expected to produce electroluminescent diodes with faster rise and fall times, albeit less efficiently. Collision ionization of luminescent centers can be studied by multiplication measurements, the results of which are closely related to the measurement of electroluminescence. In this paper, we propose a simple collision-induced field luminescence theory, from which extended collision collisions have been demonstrated. This theory gives a quantitative description of the process and performance of the diode used as a light source. Light emitting diodes with sufficient light output for display at proper voltage and current have been made with ZnSe. The work on other materials is also described.