Abstract
Cerium-doped aluminum nitride (Ce-AlN) thin films were prepared at room temperature (RT) using radio frequency (RF) reactive sputtering. As-deposited samples were then subjected to rapid thermal annealing (RTA). X-ray diffraction and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) revealed a well crystalline textured microstructure with single [002] out-of-plane orientation in both as-deposited and annealed samples. Strong RT blue emission from post-annealed samples was detected under optical excitation either by 325 or 266 nm cw lasers. Electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) measurements at the Ce edges reveal the dominant oxidation state of Ce atoms, which undergoes a change from of Ce4+ to Ce3+ ions after RTA annealing in Ar atmosphere. The chemical composition was analyzed by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) and contrasted to HRTEM images. Our findings indicate that the surface oxidation during the post-deposition annealing in Ar plays an important role in the PL response by cha...
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