Erbium implanted thin film photonic materials

Abstract

Erbium doped materials are of great interest in thin film integrated optoelectronic technology, due to their Er3+intra-4f emission at 1.54 μm, a standard telecommunication wavelength. Er-doped dielectric thin films can be used to fabricate planar optical amplifiers or lasers that can be integrated with other devices on the same chip. Semiconductors, such as silicon, can also be doped with erbium. In this case the Er may be excited through optically or electrically generated charge carriers. Er-doped Si light-emitting diodes may find applications in Si-based optoelectronic circuits. In this article, the synthesis, characterization, and application of several different Er-doped thin film photonic materials is described. It focuses on oxide glasses (pure SiO2, phosphosilicate, borosilicate, and soda-lime glasses), ceramic thin films (Al2O3,Y2O3, LiNbO3), and amorphous and crystalline silicon, all doped with Er by ion implantation. MeV ion implantation is a technique that is ideally suited to dope these materials with Er as the ion range corresponds to the typical micron dimensions of these optical materials. The role of implantation defects, the effect of annealing, concentration dependent effects, and optical activation are discussed and compared for the various materials.

Er3+ and Si luminescence of atomic layer deposited Er-doped Al2O3 thin films on Si(100)

“…A comparable trend between the Er luminescence and the annealing temperature was reported by Polman et al for sputtered Er-implanted Al 2 O 3 . 2 Also for PECVD-synthesized Er-doped Al 2 O 3 films, annealing at 900 C proved to be essential. 15 The PL spectra of the ALD Al 2 O 3 :Er samples were relatively broad with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 55 nm, which is also consistent with earlier reports.…”

“…1,2 Er 3þ ions also have the capability of upconverting two or more lower energy photons into one high-energy photon. 3 While such upconversion processes represent a loss mechanism for some optoelectronic applications, they are being considered for the enhancement of the energy conversion efficiency of future silicon solar cells.…”

“…The Er 3þ photoluminescence (PL) and upconversion luminescence depend strongly on the Er concentration in the film. 2 Control of the doping profile is, therefore, desirable for the various applications which exploit the optical properties of Er. Many different host materials have been studied in the past decades, including fluorides, sulfides, phosphates, silicates, oxynitrides, and oxides.…”

“…8,9 In addition, relatively high Er concentrations can be incorporated in Al 2 O 3 , as Er 2 O 3 exhibits a similar valence and crystal structure. 2 Er-doped Al 2 O 3 has been synthesized using various techniques, including pulsed laser deposition, 10 sputtering of Al 2 O 3 and subsequent ion implementation, 8 co-sputtering of Al 2 O 3 and Er 2 O 3 11-14 and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (CVD). 15 Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is an alternative method that can be used to deposit high-quality and uniform thin films.…”

Polarization strategies to improve the emission of Si-based light sources emitting at 1.55 μm

“…In particular, the fabrication of an efficient electrically pumped source working in the near infrared would be of a great interest due to its applications in telecommunications [9]. With such an idea, Er 3+ doped materials were fabricated and embedded in MOS devices to develop Si-based sources emitting at 1.54 m [10,11].…”