ERBIUM-DOPED SILICON AND POROUS SILICON FOR OPTOELECTRONICS

Silicon forms the backbone of the microelectronics industry, and possi bly, of the optoelectronics industry, hitherto dominated by III/V mate rials. One of the remaining goals is to build an optical source in sil icon. Erbium exhibits luminescent 1.54 mu m intra-4f transitions in bo th silicon and porous silicon. This paper reviews the work which has b een carried out in this held and discusses some possible additional ap plications of erbium-doped silicon in optoelectronics, such as a novel on-chip temperature sensor.