Ambient erbium luminescence in silicon and silicon-germanium films

作者：Abedrabbo Sufian^*; Fiory Anthony

来源：Emerging Materials Research, 2012, 1(1): 17-24.

DOI：10.1680/emr.11.00002

• semiconductors
• optical properties
• thin films

Prior studies have shown that photoluminescence from Er3+ impurities in silicon is severely limited at room temperature by non-radiative relaxation and solid solubility, and room temperature emission from Er3+ in oxide-based hosts becomes diminished at high erbium concentrations. This work presents studies of thin films (0.2 mu m thick) prepared by vacuum co-evaporation from elemental sources (erbium, silicon and silicon/germanium) followed by vacuum annealing (600 degrees C); materials of this type, which are produced with high Er3+ concentrations, are shown to be capable of yielding strong room temperature photoluminescence. Alloy films of Si-Er-O and Si-Ge-Er-O, containing (20 +/- 2) at.% erbium and incorporating (16 +/- 2) at.% oxygen (introduced by way of vacuum scavenging reactions), exhibit emission bands with dominant components at 1.51 and 1.54 mu m (similar to 0.04-mu m overall spectral widths). Results are discussed in terms of erbium-oxygen complex formation and the effects of local randomness on cooperative inter-Er3+ energy transfer among thermal-broadened and local-field Stark-split I-4(13/2)-%26gt; I-4(15/2) transitions. This paper discusses the advantages of scalability and low costs associated with producing optically active silicon-based materials.

• 出版日期2012-2