Abstract
The integration of photonic materials into CMOS processing involves the use of new materials. A simple one-step metal-organic radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system (RF-PEMOCVD) was deployed to grow erbium-doped amorphous carbon thin films (a-C:(Er)) on Si substrates at low temperatures (<200 °C). A partially fluorinated metal-organic compound, tris(6,6,7,7,8,8,8-heptafluoro-2,2-dimethyl-3,5-octanedionate) Erbium(+III) or abbreviated Er(fod)3, was incorporated in situ into a-C based host. Six-fold enhancement of Er room-temperature photoluminescence at 1.54 μm was demonstrated by deuteration of the a-C host. Furthermore, the effect of RF power and substrate temperature on the photoluminescence of a-C:D(Er) films was investigated and analyzed in terms of the film structure. Photoluminescence signal increases with increasing RF power, which is the result of an increase in [O]/[Er] ratio and the respective erbium-oxygen coordination number. Moreover, photoluminescence intensity decreases with increasing substrate temperature, which is attributed to an increased desorption rate or a lower sticking coefficient of the fluorinated fragments during film growth and hence [Er] decreases. In addition, it is observed that Er concentration quenching begins at ~2.2 at% and continues to increase until 5.5 at% in the studied a-C:D(Er) matrix. This technique provides the capability of doping Er in a vertically uniform profile.
Highlights
Incorporating optical technologies into microelectronic devices has been researched as a viable solution to overcome the speed bottlenecks associated with the ever shrinking device features [1].The optical interconnect is able to transfer and process data at rates that are orders of magnitude higher than traditional electronic technologies, both within a Si chip and in chip-to-chip communications.In order to completely avail optical technologies, it is imperative to develop silicon compatible materials that enable light generation, guiding, switching, detection, modulation and amplification
Hydrogenated amorphous carbon (a-C:H) films, for example grown by a low-temperature plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) method, exhibits compatible processing parameters with current CMOS fabrication technology
This confirms that Er luminescence is enhanced through the substitution of H with D in the a-C host samples prepared by the RF-PEMOCVD method
Summary
Leong 1, I-Ju Teng 2,3, Michael Halamicek 1, Jenh-Yih Juang 2,3, Sheng-Rui Jian 4, Li Qian 1,* and Nazir P. Received: 26 November 2013; in revised form: 17 February 2014 / Accepted: 19 February 2014 /
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