Influence of annealing temperature on the luminescence of Er/Yb co-doped Al2O3 films

Abstract

The influence of annealing temperature on the photo-luminescence (PL) of high co ncentration Er/Yb co-doped Al２O３ films was studied. The relationship betwe en PL spectra and microstructure of the films at various annealing temperatures was revealed by analyzing the dependence of the intensity and the full width at half-maximum of the PL spectra on the annealing temperature. The PL measurement shows that the annealing behavior may be split into three different regimes. Bel ow 750℃, the intensity increases with the increase of annealing temperature wit h a small slope, which corresponds to the amorphous Al２O３ films. Between 800℃ and 900℃, the PL intensity increases considerably, where the microstructure of the films was identified to be composed of γ-Al２O３ grains in nano-meter scale; At the temperature of 1000℃, the intensity of PL spectrum decre ases to a very low level, γ-Al２O３ grains and the segreg ation of Er2O ３ and Yb2O３ phases were observed by using transmis sion electron microscopy . Furthermore, the dependence of PL spectrum shape on the PL intensity of sub-le vel transition was analyzed and discussed by fitting the PL spectra at various t emperatures．