Study on ZrO2:Er Thin Films Fabricated by Metal-Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition

Abstract

ZrO2:Er thin films for active waveguide applications were fabricated by the metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) method. X-ray diffraction demonstrated that there is a rapid change of preferred orientation, from (001) to (100), in samples of which the Er contents are 2.39 mol% and 10.41 mol%, respectively. The observed phase change from monoclinic to tetragonal was attributed to the c/a ratio reduction with Er ion incorporation into the ZrO2 matrix. A considerable increase in oxygen deficiency leads to the phase change, as revealed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The near-infrared photoluminescence of 4I13/2 → 4I15/2 transition was investigated and the quenching concentration for the luminescence was found to be 2.39 mol%. It was proposed that the oxygen deficiency observed at 10.41 mol% Er concentration is mainly responsible for the quenching phenomenon.