Photoluminescence of erbium doped microcrystalline silicon thin films produced by reactive magnetron sputtering

Microcrystalline silicon thin films doped with erbium were produced by RF s puttering and their structural, chemical and optical properties were studie d by X-ray diffractometry at grazing incidence, Rutherford back scattering (RBS) and optical transmission spectroscopy. The samples exhibit a sharp ph otoluminescence (PL) spectrum from the Er centres with the strongest peak p ositioned at 1.536 mum with a full width at half maximum of about 8 nm. Whe n the temperature varies between 5 and 300 K, the photoluminescence decreas es only 5-fold, in contrast to the behaviour reported for monocrystalline s ilicon. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.