Separation of dislocation- and erbium-related photoluminescence by time resolved studies

The luminescence of Er in silicon occurs at 1.54 mum, which is very close t o the dislocation-related PL signal in silicon known as D1. Photoluminescen ce decay measurements have been carried out on silicon co-implanted with Er and O. Decays were recorded using a transient capture card designed in-hou se, and decays over nearly three decades were routinely measured with a sys tem response time of 10 mus. The decay transient always shows a component w ith a decay time of up to 1100 mus, and also a component with a much faster decay time. It is shown, that the presence of the fast decay component cor relates with a broadening of the signal at 1.53 mum, indicative of radiativ e emission due to the dislocation-related line D1, and also with the observ ation in electron and optical microscopy of small extended defects. (C) 200 1 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.