Strong room-temperature photoluminescence (PL) peaks of Er3+ (4I13/2→4I15/2) ions at ∼1.535 μm are obtained from Er-doped thin-film Si layers prepared by laser ablation. The Si sample was found to produce optimum photoluminescence peaks at an annealing temperature of about 450 °C. Experimental results also shows that the thermal quenching of the luminescence intensity from 80 K to room temperature is a factor of 2.5 only. PL excitation measurements reveal that the Er luminescence is significantly excited via the silicon band edge. The lifetime of the luminescence from the Si:Er samples is 90±10 μs.

Erbium-doped silicon-rich silicon oxide films deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition suffer from compressive stress as deposited, which converts to a large tensile stress on annealing due to the release of hydrogen. Although the cracking that results from this stress can be avoided by patterning the films into ridges, significant stress remains along the ridge axis. Measurements of erbium photoluminescence sensitized by silicon nanoclusters in stressed and relaxed films suggest an important role for internal film stresses in promoting the phase separation of excess silicon into nanoclusters, which has previously been thought of as a thermally driven process.