| Erbium doped silicon is of great interest as a potential light source in Silicon Photonics research due to its light emission at 1.54 mum, which corresponds to the minimal loss of optical transmission in silica fibers for telecommunications. In this thesis a basic mechanism for excitation and de-excitation of Er in Si is reviewed. Based on such fundamental understanding, an innovative approach is proposed and implemented to improve Er luminescence properties through the formation of metal nanoparticles via impurity gettering in Si nanocavities.;The first part of the work demonstrates the use of ion implantation combined with thermal treatments for forming Ag nanoparticles in the vicinity of Er luminescence centers in Si. The utilization of standard semiconductor fabrication equipment and moderate thermal budgets make this approach fully compatible with Si CMOS technologies. The presence of Ag nanoparticles leads to an enhancement in the Er photoluminescence intensity, its excitation cross section and the population of optically active Er, possibly due to the surface plasmon excitation effects related to Ag nanoparticles. The resulting structures were characterized by Hydrogen depth profiling (NRA), Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS), Photoluminescence (PL), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM).;In order to optimize the Er luminescence properties in such a system it is necessary to understand how the sample conditions affect the formation of Ag nanoparticles in Si. Therefore in the second part of this project we investigate the role of surface oxide in point defect generation and recombination, and the consequence on nanocavity formation and defect retention in Si. Investigation of the surface oxide effects on nanocavity formation in hydrogen implanted silicon and the influence of resultant nanocavities on diffusion and gettering of implanted silver atoms. Two sets of Si samples were prepared, depending on whether the oxide layer was etched off before (Group-A) or after (Group-B) post-H-implantation annealing. As evidenced by transmission electron microscopy, Group-A samples exhibited an array of large-sized nanocavities in hexagon-like shape, whereas a narrow band of sphere-shaped nanocavities of small size was present below the surface in Group-B samples. These Si samples with pre-existing nanocavities were further implanted with Ag ions in the surface region and post-Ag-implantation annealing was conducted in the temperature range between 600 and 900 °C. Measurements based on RBS revealed much different behaviors for Ag redistribution and defect accumulation in these two sets of samples. Compared to the case for Group-B Si, Group-A Si exhibited a lower concentration of residual defects and a slower kinetics in Ag diffusion as well. The properties of nanocavities, e.g., their depth distribution, size, and even shape, are believed to be responsible for the observed disparities between the samples with and without surface oxides, including an interesting contrast of surface vs. bulk diffusion phenomena for implanted Ag atoms.;Based on this thesis work, we believe that this approach is promising for achieving monolithically integrated room-temperature light emitting devices based on Er-doped Si, if the properties (e.g., density/size/type of nanoparticles) of these novel Si nanostructures could be further optimized in future studies. |
