Influence of an Increase in the Implantation Dose of Erbium Ions and Annealing Temperature on Photoluminescence in AlGaN/GaN Superlattices and GaN Epitaxial Layers.

Room-temperature photoluminescence (PL) has been studied in AlGaN/GaN superlattices and GaN epitaxial layers implanted with 1-MeV erbium at a dose of 3 × 1015cm–2 and annealed in argon. The intensity of PL from Er3+ ions in the superlattices exceeds that for the epitaxial layers at annealing temperatures of 700–1000°C. The strongest difference (by a factor of ∼2.8) in PL intensity between the epitaxial layers and the superlattices and the highest PL intensity for the superlattices are observed upon annealing at 900°C. On raising the annealing temperature to 1050°C, the intensity of the erbium emission from the superlattices decreases substantially. This circumstance may be due to their thermal destruction. © 2005 Pleiades Publishing, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]