Improvement of photoluminescence mechanism of CTA-treated Si+-implanted SiO2 films by using RTA

In this paper, a shift in the photoluminescence (PL) peak from blue to near-infrared region was observed in the Si+-implanted 400-nm-thick SiO2 films with the rapid thermal annealing (RTA) method only. As the Si+-fluence was 1×1016 ions/cm2, a blue band was observed in the films after RTA at 1050 °C for 5 s in dry-N2 atmosphere; then, the band shifted from blue to orange upon increasing the holding temperature of RTA to 1250 °C in the films after the isochronal RTA in dry N2. Furthermore, while the fluence was increased to 3×11016 ions/cm2 and the holding temperature was at the same range between 1050 and 1250 °C, the PL peak occurred between red and near-infrared regions. Although the RTA and conventional thermal annealing (CTA) methods produce a similar mechanism, the CTA method needs a much longer annealing-time and a higher Si+-implanted dose than the RTA method for producing the same shift and intensity of PL peak from the as-implanted sample. Therefore, the RTA method can produce the mechanism in the Si+-implanted sample with the PL energy between blue and near-infrared band in place of the CTA method.