Thermal Activation and Cathodoluminescence Measurements of Tb3+-Doped a-(SiC)1-x(AlN)x Thin Films

Abstract

We produce amorphous terbium doped wide bandgap semiconductor thin films of the pseudobinary compound (SiC)1 x(AlN)x by rf triple magnetron sputtering. Cathodoluminescence measurements performed at samples having different compositions x show pronounced intra 4f shell transition peaks of the trivalent terbium. Thermal activation of the terbium emission by isochronal annealing of the films leads to a strong increase in emission intensity.