Er³⁺ luminescence in a-SiO^x:H

Among the luminescent rare earth ions erbium is a favourable candidate for the incorporation into silicon based host materials due to its intra-4f transition at 1.54 μm, the transmission maximum of optical fibres. Disadvantages of Er in c-Si such as the limited solubility, the strongly quenched room temperature luminescence (PL) and the need for co-doping with oxygen could be overcome by using amorphous hydrogenated silicon suboxides (a-SiO_x:H) as a host matrix. Suboxides have enhanced Er solubility and variable oxygen contents provide favourable erbium environments and reduced excitation backtransfer. Er³⁺ doses up to 7 × 10¹⁴ cm^-2 were implanted into SiO_x with oxygen contents from 0 to 50 at.%. The behaviour of the intrinsic SiO_x and the erbium photoluminescence (PL) was measured and analysed as a function of Er implantation dose, oxygen content, defect density and temperature.