The role of extended and point defects, and key impurities such as C, O, and H, on the electrical and optical properties of GaN is reviewed. Recent progress in the development of high reliability contacts, thermal processing, dry and wet etching techniques, implantation doping and isolation, and gate insulator technology is detailed. Finally, the performance of GaN-based electronic and photonic devices such as field effect transistors, UV detectors, laser diodes, and light-emitting diodes is covered, along with the influence of process-induced or grown-in defects and impurities on the device physics.

Gan : processing, defects, and devices

Erbium doped materials are of great interest in thin film integrated optoelectronic technology, due to their Er3+ intra-4f emission at 1.54 μm, a standard telecommunication wavelength. Er-doped dielectric thin films can be used to fabricate planar optical amplifiers or lasers that can be integrated with other devices on the same chip. Semiconductors, such as silicon, can also be doped with erbium. In this case the Er may be excited through optically or electrically generated charge carriers. Er-doped Si light-emitting diodes may find applications in Si-based optoelectronic circuits. In this article, the synthesis, characterization, and application of several different Er-doped thin film photonic materials is described. It focuses on oxide glasses (pure SiO2, phosphosilicate, borosilicate, and soda-lime glasses), ceramic thin films (Al2O3, Y2O3, LiNbO3), and amorphous and crystalline silicon, all doped with Er by ion implantation. MeV ion implantation is a technique that is ideally suited to dope these materials with Er as the ion range corresponds to the typical micron dimensions of these optical materials. The role of implantation defects, the effect of annealing, concentration dependent effects, and optical activation are discussed and compared for the various materials.

Erbium implanted thin film photonic materials

Recent developments in rare-earth doped materials for optoelectronics

Silicon photonics could enable a chip-scale platform for monolithic integration of optics and microelectronics for applications of optical interconnects in which high data streams are required in a small footprint. This paper discusses mechanisms in silicon photonics for waveguiding, modulating, light amplification, and emission. These mechanisms, together with recent advances of fabrication techniques, have enabled the demonstration of ultracompact passive and active silicon photonic components with very low loss.

Guiding, modulating, and emitting light on Silicon-challenges and opportunities

We have obtained room‐temperature electroluminescence (EL) at ∼1.54 μm from Er and O co‐doped crystalline p‐n Si diodes fabricated by ion implantation, under both forward and reverse bias conditions. Under forward bias, the EL intensity decreases by a factor of ∼15 on going from 110 to 300 K, where a weak peak is still visible. In contrast, we report the first sharp luminescence peak obtained under reverse bias conditions in the breakdown regime. In this case the EL intensity decreases only by a factor of 4 on going from 110 to 300 K and the room‐temperature yield is more than one order of magnitude higher than under forward bias. The data suggest that Er excitation occurs through electron‐hole mediated processes under forward bias and through impact excitation under reverse bias.

Room‐temperature electroluminescence from Er‐doped crystalline Si

The effect of impurity coimplantation in MeV erbium‐implanted silicon is studied. A significant increase in the intensity of the 1.54‐μm Er3+ emission was observed for different coimplants. This study shows that the Er3+ emission is observed if erbium can form an impurity complex in silicon. The influence of these impurities on the Er3+ photoluminescence spectrum is demonstrated. Furthermore we show the first room‐temperature photoluminescence spectrum of erbium in crystalline silicon.

R. F. Ferrante

Papers

Impurity enhancement of the 1.54‐μm Er3+ luminescence in silicon

Dopant Enhancement of the 1.54 µm Emission of Erbium Implanted in Silicon