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Site of Er ions in silica layers codoped with Si nanoclusters and Er

Journal Article · · Applied Physics Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2190267· OSTI ID:20778850
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  1. Departament d'Electronica, Universitat de Barcelona, Marti i Franques 1, 08028 Barcelona (Spain)
Silica layers implanted with Si and Er ions to various doses and annealed at 950 deg. C have been investigated by means of energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy (EFTEM) and high annular angle dark field (HAADF). EFTEM analysis reveals Si nanoclusters (Si-nc) with an average size around 3 nm for high Si content (15 at. %) whereas no clusters can be imaged for the lowest Si excess (5 at. %). Raman scattering supports that amorphous Si precipitates are present in all the samples. Moreover, the filtered images show that Er ions appear preferentially located outside the Si-nc. HAADF analysis confirms that the Er atoms form agglomerations of 5-10 nm size when the Er concentration exceeds 1x10{sup 20} cm{sup -3}. This observation correlates well with the reduction of the Er population excitable by Si nanoclusters, in the best case corresponding to 10% of the total. A suitable tuning of the annealing drastically reduces this deleterious effect.
OSTI ID:
20778850
Journal Information:
Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 88; ISSN APPLAB; ISSN 0003-6951
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English