Erbium-doped silicon-rich silicon dioxide/silicon thin films fabricated by metal vapour vacuum arc ion source implantation

A new method, metal vapour vacuum arc ion source implantation, has been developed to synthesize Er-doped Si-rich SiOx thin films under relatively low implanted ion energies and very high doses. An Er concentration as high as ~1021 atoms cm-3 in the Si oxide layer can be reached. Reflection high-energy electron diffraction and cross section transmission electron microscopic observations show that the excess Si atoms in the SiO2 matrix cluster and crystallize gradually into nano-size grains with an average size of 4.5 nm during the rapid thermal annealing process after dual-implantation. The sample emits a 1.54 µm wavelength luminescence signal, the intensity of which decreases by only a factor of two as the measuring temperature increases from 77 K to 300 K, showing very weak temperature quenching.