Luminescent properties of Er and Si co-implanted silicates

An extensive research for optical active materials at 1540 nm is currently being carried out, on the steam of the strong need for optoelectronic devices which can be integrated with the mainstream Si technology. The formation of silica films doped with Er and Si clusters has been shown as one of the promising approaches. We explored the emission properties of different silicate glasses co-implanted with silicon and Er ions to various doses. As starting materials we used soda-lime and aluminium silicates, glasses which show a larger optical bandwidth than silica at 1540 nm. A Si multi-implantation scheme has been adopted for a planar profile. The best conditions to precipitate Si and activate the Er atoms have been investigated. Optimal annealing temperatures have been found around 500 °C, depending on the particular composition of the original glass substrate. The structural analysis of the resulting structures ensures that the best emission properties are the ones for which a phase separation between the implanted Si and the matrix occurs, even without the formation of crystalline aggregates. A comprehensive study of the emission properties is given as a function of the matrix characteristics, Si and Er content, excitation wavelength and power density. It is shown an increase of the emission enhancement of the Er atoms due to the presence of Si cluster when increasing the excitation power. Modelling of the interaction between the absorbing Si nanoprecipitates and the emitting Er atoms has been carried out, in order to estimate the relevant physical parameters which describe the PL process.