INFRARED-SPECTROSCOPY OF ER-CONTAINING AMORPHOUS-SILICON THIN-FILMS

Hydrogenated amorphous SiEr (a-SiEr:H) thin films were deposited by co sputtering. Oxygen and nitrogen were employed as impurity enhancers of Er3+ emission of light at 1540 nm, and photoluminescence, infrared ab sorption, and Raman spectroscopies were performed as a function of var ious annealing temperatures. As-deposited O-contaminated and N-doped n -SiEr:H samples exhibit Er3+ related photoluminescence, low intensity at room temperature, and maximum intensity after thermal annealing at similar to 500 degrees C. In addition to the enhancement of the Er3+ e mission of light, thermal annealing provokes the outdiffusion of hydro gen bonded to silicon atoms. The experimental data suggest that both h ydrogen and thermal treatments improve the Er3+ related photoluminesce nce by decreasing the occurrence of nonradiative processes. (C) 1997 A merican Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(97)02351-6].