Optical doping of waveguide materials by MeV Er implantation

TLDR: In this paper, MeV erbium ion implantation into micron-thick silica and phosphosilicate glass films and 1200-Athick Si3N4 films was studied with the aim of incorporating the rare earth dopant on an optically active site in the network.

Abstract: Implantation of MeV erbium ions into micron‐thick silica and phosphosilicate glass films and 1200‐A‐thick Si3N4 films is studied with the aim of incorporating the rare‐earth dopant on an optically active site in the network. Implantation energies and fluences range from 500 keV to 3.5 MeV and 3.8×1015 to 9.0×1016 ions/cm2. After proper thermal annealing, all implanted films show an intense and sharply peaked photoluminescence spectrum centered around λ = 1.54 μm. The fluorescence lifetime ranges from 6 to 15 ms for the silica‐based glasses, depending on annealing treatment and Er concentration. Silicon nitride films show lower lifetimes, in the range <0.2–7 ms. Annealing characteristics of all materials are interpreted in terms of annealing of ion‐induced network defects. These defects are identified using photoluminescence spectroscopy at 4.2 K. Concentration quenching, diffusion and precipitation behavior of Er is also studied.