Effect of Humidity and UV Assistance on the Properties of Erbium Doped Yttrium Oxide Films Prepared by Aerosol‐MOCVD

Abstract

International audienceErbium-doped yttrium oxide films are prepared from yttrium acetylacetonate (Y(C(5)H(7)O2)(3)) and erbium (III) tris(2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-3,5-heptanedionate) (Er(TMHD)(3)) under standard conditions by UV-aerosol-assisted metal-organic (AA-MOCVD), using air with controlled humidity as the carrier gas. The structure and deposition rate are optimized by studying three experimental parameters; substrate temperature, relative humidity (RH) of the carrier gas, and UV-assistance. Taking all these parameter effects under consideration, the maximum deposition rates are reached under low humidity air and with UV-assistance. Nevertheless, as-deposited Er:Y(2)O(3) films crystallize in the Y(2)O(3) cubic structure and present a very low organic contamination when depositions take place under high air humidity and with UV-assistance. The refractive index of yttrium oxide films under these conditions are relatively high, reaching 1.86 when deposited at 410 degrees C

Growth rate induced high efficient light trapping/photon conversion ZnO:Nd 3+ nanodisk shaped thin films deposited by AACVD process

“…The size of the nano-disk grains is in the range of [90-100 nm] for the films deposited at both 450 and 500°C (Fig. 2c), which confirms the high temperature-limited growth mode [31,32]. This result indicates that the crystallization of the films started just at this temperature (as shown in Fig.…”

“…The obtained results are ascribed to the usual CVD process steps described by three different limiting mechanisms[31,32]: kineticlimited, diffusion-limited, and high temperature-limited growth. For the low temperature (370 growth rate is due to the low thermal energy responsible for the decomposition of the Zn and Nd precursors.…”

“…It is renowned that the deposition temperature is the key parameter for both incorporation of the dopant and deposition process of the films [26,30,31]. To study the deposition processes of Nd doped ZnO thin films, we have investigated the growth rate versus deposition temperature.…”

“…The thicknesses of ZnO:Nd films measured by ellipsometry were in the range of [210-310 nm]. Moreover, the growth rate of the deposition process is described as the thickness of the deposited film over the deposition time [30,31]. The growth rates of the films are 420, 570, 620, 590 and 580 nm/h corresponding to 210, 285, 310, 295 and 290 nm.…”

“…Moreover, these contaminations quench the rare earth luminescence and provide a non-radiative relaxation route via vibrational excitation [26,31]. To study their presence, the FTIR measurements of the as-deposited films were recorded.…”