Abstract
Abstract Highly erbium-doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si: H(Er)) thin films were deposited by dc magnetron sputtering. Erbium was incorporated into the host material by a co-sputtering technique. Deposited films (0.5–1.1 μm thick) were characterized by optical transmission, Rutherford back-scattering spectrometry (RBS), secondary-ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and electrical measurements. RBS and SIMS measurements clearly showed evidence for erbium incorporation, with a concentration at about 1–2%, throughout the whole film thickness. This erbium incorporation induced an increase in the refractive-index value (from 3.2 to 3.55) and a decrease in the optical gap energy value to 1.14eV. Moreover, we observed a strong decrease in the electrical resistivity (from 108 to 5500 Ω cm) in a-Si:H(Er) films compared with undoped a-Si:H films. These results offer new possibilities for application to optoelectronic devices (waveguides, light emitting diodes, etc.).
Published Version
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