Temperature dependence of sensitized Er3+ luminescence in silicon-rich oxynitride films

Abstract

Abstract The temperature dependence of sensitized Er3+ emission via localized states and silicon nanoclusters has been studied to get an insight into the excitation and de-excitation processes in silicon-rich oxynitride films. The thermal quenching of Er3+ luminescence is elucidated by terms of decay time and effective excitation cross section. The temperature quenching of Er3+ decay time demonstrates the presence of non-radiative trap states, whose density and energy gap between Er3+ 4 I 13/2 excited levels are reduced by high-temperature annealing. The effective excitation cross section initially increases and eventually decreases with temperature, indicating that the energy transfer process is phonon assisted in both samples.