Structural, chemical and optical characterizations of nanocrystallized AlN:Er thin films prepared by r.f. magnetron sputtering

Nanocrystalline n-AlN:Er thin films were deposited on (0 0 1) Silicon substrates by r.f. magnetron sputtering at room temperature to study the correlation between 1.54 μm IR photoluminescence (PL) intensity, AlN crystalline structure and Er concentration rate. This study first presents how Energy-Dispersive Spectroscopy of X-rays (EDSX) Er Cliff Lorimer sensitivity factor α = 5 is obtained by combining EDSX and electron probe micro analysis (EPMA) results on reference samples. It secondly presents the relative PL intensities of nanocrystallized samples prepared with identical sputtering parameters as a function of the Er concentration. The structure of crystallites in AlN films is observed by transmission electron microscopy.