Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 February 2011
An erbium-fluorine complex is 100 times more effective than an erbium-oxygen complex in generating light emission at 1.54 µm in Si:Er. The luminescence light intensity is linearly proportional to the total retained F atoms in Si after heat treatment. F enhancement in light emission in Si:Er is eventually limited by the damage associated with high dose F implantation. The optimum annealing temperature to achieve the maximum intensity is found to decrease slightly from 1000ºC to 800ºC as the initial F implanted concentration increases. The Si:Er heat treatment process and the optimum processing window are determined by the interaction of three different processes: damage recovery/complex formation, F out-diffusion and Er-F complex dissociation.