Improved performance of mid-infrared superlattice light emitting diodes grown epitaxially on silicon

•Optical output of mid-infrared superlattice LEDs improved on silicon substrates.•Mid-IR SLEDs on Si perform better due to improved thermal management.•Mid-IR SLEDs on Si are limited mainly by Auger rather than defect scattering. InAs/GaSb mid-infrared superlattice light emitting diodes (SLEDs) were grown and fabricated on miscut (1 0 0) Si. Compared to growth on lattice-matched GaSb substrates, SLEDs performed better at typical operating conditions due to improved thermal management and substrate transparency, and in spite of decreased minority carrier lifetime due to defects, as determined through spectrally resolved photoluminescence and ultrafast differential transmission measurements on comparable photoluminescence samples. For the smallest device sizes, this benefit was negated due to increased device failure at high current densities.