Improvement of 1.54 μm luminescence in erbium-doped a-SiO :H alloys

Abstract Erbium-doped amorphous silicon films have been deposited using magnetron-assisted silane decomposition (MASD) technique. The increase of partial concentration of O 2 in the gas phase above 6.5 mol% during the deposition enhances the intensity of the 1.54 μm Er photoluminescence (PL) at room temperature. The films exhibit an inhomogeneous structure containing oxygen and Er enriched nanoclusters, where the Er ions reside in optically active but electrically passive configuration.