Abstract
A series of silicon-rich oxide (SRO) and erbium-doped SRO (SROEr) films imbedded with structural tunable silicon nanoclusters (Si NCs) have been fabricated using sputtering followed by post-annealing. The coalescence of Si NCs is found in the films with large Si excess. The energy transfer rate between Si NCs and Er3+ is enhanced, but the luminescence efficiencies of both Si NCs and Er3+ are reduced by the coalescent microstructures. Optimization of the microstructures of Si NCs is performed, and the preferential optical performance for both Si NCs and Er3+ could be achieved when Si NCs were separated in microstructures.
Highlights
Er-doped silica-based materials have been extensively studied in the field of optical communication technology for their promising applications as active elements in photonic devices [1,2,3,4]
We address in a conclusive way that the coalescence of Si Silicon nanoclusters (NCs) in microstructures would reduce the luminescence of Si nanoclusters (Si NCs), which would further quench the luminescence of Er3+
It can be seen that the size of Si NCs increases slightly from 2 to 5 nm in the films with the Si excess from 11% to 88%
Summary
Er-doped silica-based materials have been extensively studied in the field of optical communication technology for their promising applications as active elements in photonic devices [1,2,3,4]. The sharp luminescence of Er3+ ions at 1.54 μm matches the standard telecommunication wavelength of silica optical fibers and is absorption-free for Si bandgap. Si nanoclusters (Si NCs) with large excitation cross-section and broad excitation band are exploited as sensitizers to improve the excitation efficiency of Er3+ [5,6]. Great deals of researches have committed effort to improve the properties of sensitizers (Si NCs) and to enhance the luminescence efficiency of Er3+ [7,8,9]. The optical properties of Si NCs would be affected by the
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