Novel deposition technique of Er-doped a-Si:H combining catalytic chemical vapor deposition and pulsed laser-ablation

Abstract Er-doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) films were prepared by a novel deposition technique combining catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and pulsed laser-ablation. Er content was controlled, ranging from 8×10 19 to 7×10 20 cm −3 , by increasing the gas pressure during deposition from 6.7 to 106 Pa. Photoluminescence (PL) properties were measured at various temperatures. PL originating from Er 4f-intra transition was observed even at room temperature. Activation energy for the quenching the PL intensity is smaller than that for Er-doped single crystal Si. Based on these results we suggest that Er-doped a-Si:H films prepared by our method are promising materials for optical-communication devices.