Influence of intrinsic point defects on the formation of structural defects and optically active centers during the annealing of erbium-and dysprosium-implanted silicon

The photoluminescence spectra and behavior of the structural defects in layers obtained by implanting 1.0–1.8-MeV Er and Dy ions at a dose of 1×10¹³ cm⁻² are investigated after annealing at 1000–1200 °C for 0.5–1 h in argon or a chlorine-containing atmosphere. The structural defects are studied using transmission electron microscopy and selective chemical etching. The dominant features in the luminescence spectra of the Si:Er and Si:Dy layers following annealing in the chlorine-containing atmosphere are lines associated with the formation of edge dislocations, while the dominant features following the annealing of Si:Er and Si:Dy layers in argon are the erbium-related lines. A comparative analysis of the luminescence spectra of the Si:Er and Si:Dy layers shows that the highest intensity of dislocation-related luminescence is achieved in the erbium-implanted structures. A significant influence of intrinsic point defects on the structural and optical properties of erbium-and dysprosium-implanted silicon is revealed. Fiz. Tekh. Poluprovodn. 33, 656–659 (June 1999)     

Tuning of electronic states in self-assembled InAs quantum dots using an ion implantation technique

We report the tunability of up to 150 meV of the ground state transition of self-assembled InAs quantum dots (QDs) using Mn ion implantation and subsequent annealing. Because of the exciton localization in the quantum dots, the photoluminescence efficiency (T=12K) of the quantum dot transition remains at 80% of its original value after implantation with a Mn dose of 1×10¹³ cm⁻²ions. Strong luminescence still remains at room temperature. At a high implantation dose (1×10¹⁵ cm⁻²) and rapid thermal annealing (700°C for 60s) about 25% of the QD luminescence intensity is recovered at T=12K.     

Photoluminescence of amorphous and crystalline silicon nanoclusters in silicon nitride and oxide superlattices

The photoluminescence properties of silicon nitride and oxide superlattices fabricated by plasmaenhanced chemical vapor deposition are studied. In the structures annealed at a temperature of 1150°C, photoluminescence peaks at about 1.45 eV are recorded. The peaks are defined by exciton recombination in silicon nanocrystals formed upon annealing. Along with the 1.45-eV peaks, a number of peaks defined by recombination at defects at the interface between the nanocrystals and silicon-nitride matrix are detected. The structures annealed at 900°C exhibit a number of photoluminescence peaks in the range 1.3–2.0 eV. These peaks are defined by both the recombination at defects and exciton recombination in amorphous silicon nanoclusters formed at an annealing temperature of 900°C. The observed features of all of the photoluminescence spectra are confirmed by the nature of the photoluminescence kinetics.     

非掺杂n型氮化镓外延层的光致发光

研究了热处理对非掺杂 n型氮化镓外延层光致发光谱的影响和光谱中各发光带强度与温度之间的关系 .热处理后 ,光谱中的带边峰和黄光峰的强度较热处理前都有明显降低 .黄光峰强度随温度升高的衰减速度要比带边峰慢得多 .由这些实验结果得出结论 :光谱中的带边峰是由自由激子和束缚在一浅施主能级的束缚激子的谱线重合而成 ,这个浅施主能级很有可能是由氮空位产生 ;黄色荧光的机制应为自由电子或施主能级向深受主能级的跃迁 ,并且黄色荧光肯定和氮化镓中的一内部缺陷产生的深受主能级有关 ,该内部缺陷很有可能是镓空位 .     

非掺杂n型氮化镓外延层的光致发光

研究了热处理对非掺杂n型氮化镓外延层光致发光谱的影响和光谱中各发光带强度与温度之间的关系．热处理后,光谱中的带边峰和黄光峰的强度较热处理前都有明显降低．黄光峰强度随温度升高的衰减速度要比带边峰慢得多．由这些实验结果得出结论：光谱中的带边峰是由自由激子和束缚在一浅施主能级的束缚激子的谱线重合而成,这个浅施主能级很有可能是由氮空位产生;黄色荧光的机制应为自由电子或施主能级向深受主能级的跃迁,并且黄色荧光肯定和氮化镓中的一内部缺陷产生的深受主能级有关,该内部缺陷很有可能是镓空位．     

Photoluminescence study of ZnO varistor stability

Photoluminescence (PL) measurements were carried out on commercial ZnO varistor samples that were electrically stressed and/or annealed at different temperatures. Changes in the intensity of green and yellow luminescence centers were studied as a function of annealing treatment. It was found that the ZnO luminescence (green and yellow) decrease with increase in annealing temperature, reach a minimum at 700°C, and increase again beyond 800°C. Furthermore, these green and yellow luminescence bands observed in the PL spectra are quenched in the ZnO varistor samples, compared to pure ZnO. In an electrically stressed ZnO varistor sample, the luminescence intensity was found to be higher compared to the as-sintered varistor sample. Annealing of the stressed varistor sample resulted in a decrease of the luminescence intensity. These PL observations are consistent with previous deep level transient spectroscopy and doppler positron annihilation spectroscopy results. All of the experimental results are consistent with the ion migration model of degradation and can be explained using a grain boundary defect model.     

Effect of low-temperature annealing on photoluminescence of silicon nanocluster structures

Experimental data on the photoluminescence spectra of Si nanocluster structures obtained after high-temperature annealing (1150°C) of SiO _x films deposited onto Si and subsequent low-temperature annealing of the films at the temperature 450°C in different ambient are reported. It is shown that the photoluminescence intensity substantially increases after low-temperature annealing and the most-pronounced effect is observed after annealing in the oxygen-nitrogen mixture. In this case, the photoluminescence spectrum is shifted to longer wavelengths and shaped as a broad band with a peak around 800 nm. The processes responsible for the increase in the PL intensity on low-temperature annealing in the oxygen-nitrogen mixture are defined by reconstruction of the Si/SiO₂ interfaces and by energy levels formed at the interfaces and involved in recombination of nonequilibrium charge carriers. The quasichemical reactions that bring about the formation of such levels involve oxygen and nitrogen atoms, and the centers, at which the reactions are initiated, are unsaturated valence bonds at the interfaces between Si nanoclusters and the SiO₂ matrix.     

Formation and reconstruction of Se nanoislands at the surface of thin epitaxial ZnSe layers grown on GaAs substrates

Strained epitaxial ZnSe layers are grown on GaAs substrates by the method of vapor-phase epitaxy from metal-organic compounds. It is found that Se nanoislands with a density of 10⁸ to 10⁹ cm^–2 are formed at the surface of such layers. It is established that an increase in the size of Se islands and a decrease in their density take place after completion of growth. Annealing in a H₂ atmosphere at a temperature higher than 260°C leads to the disappearance of Se islands and to a decrease in the surface roughness. It is shown that annealing does not lead to deterioration of the structural perfection of the epitaxial ZnSe films; rather, annealing gives rise to a decrease in the intensity of impurity–defect luminescence and to an increase in the intensity of intrinsic radiation near the bottom of the exciton band.     

Photoluminescence in silicon implanted with erbium ions at an elevated temperature

Photoluminescence spectra of n-type silicon upon implantation with erbium ions at 600°C and oxygen ions at room temperature and subsequent annealings at 1100°C in a chlorine-containing atmosphere have been studied. Depending on the annealing duration, photoluminescence spectra at 80 K are dominated by lines of the Er³⁺ ion or dislocation-related luminescence. The short-wavelength shift of the dislocation-related luminescence line observed at this temperature is due to implantation of erbium ions at an elevated temperature. At room temperature, lines of erbium and dislocation-related luminescence are observed in the spectra, but lines of near-band-edge luminescence predominate.     

Formation and study of buried SiC layers with a high content of radiation defects

Protons with energy E=100 keV were implanted with doses ranging from 2×10¹⁷ to 4×10¹⁷ cm^?2 into 6H-and 4H-SiC n-type samples at room temperature. The samples were subjected to various types of postimplantation heat treatment in the temperature range 550–1500°C. The parameters of the samples were studied by measuring the capacitance-voltage and current-voltage characteristics and by analyzing the photoluminescence spectra. Blistering on the surface of the sample is observed after annealing the samples at a temperature of 800°C only after implantation of protons with a dose of ≤3×10¹⁷ cm^?2. A decrease in the resistivity of the compensated layer sets in after annealing at a temperature of ～1200°C and is completed after annealing at a temperature of ～1500°C. A drastic decrease in the photoluminescence intensity is observed after implantation for all types of samples. Recovery of the photoluminescence intensity sets in after annealing at temperatures ≥800°C and is complete after annealing at a temperature of 1500°C.     

Impurity induced disordering of GaInAs quantum wells with barriers of AlGaInAs or of GaInAsP

Impurity induced disordering of GaInAs quantum well structures with barriers of AlGaInAs and of GaInAsP has been investigated using boron and fluorine. The impurities were introduced by ion implantation followed by thermal annealing. Annealing unimplanted P-based quaternary material at temperatures greater than 500° C caused a blue shift of the exciton peak. At annealing temperatures greater than 650° C red shifts in the exciton peak of unimplanted Al-based quaternary material were observed. Boron implantation caused small blue shifts of the exciton peak in both material systems at low annealing temperatures. Much larger blue shifts were observed in the fluorine implanted samples.     

Transformation of nonradiative recombination centers in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well structures upon treatment in a CF4 plasma followed by low-temperature annealing

The influence of low-temperature annealing on the photoluminescence of GaAs/AlGaAs single-quantum-well structures treated in a low-energy CF₄ plasma is investigated. It is established that annealing at 160–300 °C causes a decrease of the photoluminescence intensity of the quantum wells located in the near-surface region, while annealing at 350–450 °C leads to partial restoration of their photoluminescence. The activation energy for the diffusion of plasma-produced point defects and the activation energy for the annealing of these defects are determined. These energies are equal to 150 and 540 meV, respectively. It is discovered that the photoluminescence of the quantum wells near the substrate, which had a low intensity in the as-grown sample, increases after treatment in the plasma and decreases after subsequent annealing monotonically with increasing annealing temperature. Repeated treatment in a CF₄ plasma leads to a repeated increase in the photoluminescence intensity of these quantum wells. It is theorized that the defects induced by the CF₄ plasma form complexes with defects introduced during growth and that these complexes are not recombination centers. After low-temperature annealing, the complexes dissociate, and the nonradiative recombination centers are recreated. Fiz. Tekh. Poluprovodn. 32, 1450–1455 (December 1998)     

Effect of low-temperature annealing on the quality of InSe layered single crystals and the characteristics of n-InSe/p-InSe heterojunctions

The effect of the low-temperature annealing of n- and p-type InSe single crystals on the photoelectric characteristics of n-InSe/p-InSe heterojunctions is investigated. It is found that the most pronounced enhancement of these characteristics takes place for annealing temperatures of 150–200°C. Improvement in the quality of single-crystal samples upon annealing is confirmed by the observation of multiplet nuclear quadrupole resonance spectra, which reflect ordering in the system of polytypes of layered InSe crystals. For annealed materials, n-InSe/p-InSe structures exhibit an increase in the intensity of the exciton peak and an increase in the open-circuit voltage from 0.29 to 0.56 V and short-circuit current from 350 to 840 μA/cm².     

Shallow and Deep Centers in As-Grown and Annealed MgZnO/ZnO Structures with Quantum Wells

Shallow and deep centers in ZnO(P)/MgZnO/ZnO/MgZnO/ZnO(Ga) structures grown by pulsed laser deposition on sapphire were studied before and after annealing in oxygen atmosphere at high temperatures of 850°C to 950°C. In both as-grown and annealed structures, microcathodoluminescence spectra in the near-bandgap region demonstrate a blue-shift by 0.13 eV compared with bulk ZnO films, indicating carrier confinement in the MgZnO/ZnO/MgZnO quantum well (QW). Annealing strongly decreases the concentration of shallow uncompensated donors from ~10¹⁷ cm⁻³ to ~10¹⁶ cm⁻³ and makes it possible to probe the region of the QW by capacitance–voltage (C–V) profiling. This profiling confirms charge accumulation in the QW. The dominant electron traps in the as-grown films are the well-known traps with activation energies of 0.3 eV and 0.8 eV. After annealing, the electron traps observed in the structure have activation energies of 0.14 eV, 0.33 eV, and 0.57 eV, with the Fermi level in the n-ZnO(P) pinned by the 0.14-eV traps. The annealing also introduces deep compensating defects that decrease the intensity of band-edge luminescence and produce a deep luminescence defect band at 2.2 eV. In addition, a defect vibrational band becomes visible in Raman spectra near 650 cm⁻¹. No conversion to p-type conductivity was detected. The results are compared with the data for the structures successfully converted to p-type, and possible reasons for the observed differences are discussed.     

Special features of optical and photoelectric properties of nominally undoped and Cu-doped CdS single crystals

Experimental data on the effect of fast reactor neutrons on the absorption spectra, photoconductivity, and luminescence of nominally undoped and Cu-doped CdS single crystals are reported. It is shown that defect clusters formed as a result of neutron irradiation exhibit the properties of getters for easily migrating optically active impurities in the crystal lattice. In neutron-irradiated samples, the defects can be annealed in two stages. The first stage (100–150°C) involves the annealing of point defects, while the second stage (250–420°C) involves mainly the annealing of defect clusters. The degradation of the defect clusters is accompanied with the enrichment of the lattice with Cd and S vacancies.     

Short-wavelength photoluminescence of SiO2 layers implanted with high doses of Si+, Ge+, and Ar+ ions

The short-wavelength (400–700 nm) photoluminescence (PL) spectra of SiO₂ layers implanted with Si⁺, Ge⁺, and Ar⁺ ions in the dose range 3.2×10¹⁶–1.2×10¹⁷ cm⁻² are compared. After Ar⁺ implantation an extremely weak luminescence, which vanishes completely after annealing for 30 min at 400 °C or 20 ms at 1050 °C, was observed. After implantation of group-IV elements the luminescence intensities were 1 to 2 orders of magnitude higher, and the luminescence remained not only with annealings but it could also increase. The dose and heating dependences of the luminescence show that it is due to the formation of impurity clusters and this process is more likely to be of a percolation than a diffusion character. For both group-IV impurities an intense blue band and a weaker band in the orange part of the spectrum were observed immediately after implantation. The ratio of the excitation and emission energies of the blue luminescence is characteristic of oxygen vacancies in SiO₂; its properties are determined by the direct interaction of group-IV atoms. On this basis it is believed that the centers of blue PL are chains of Si (or Ge) atoms embedded in SiO₂. The orange luminescence remained after annealings only in the case of Si⁺ implantation. This is attributed directly to the nonphase precipitates of Si in the form of strongly developed nanometer-size clusters. Fiz. Tekh. Poluprovodn. 32, 439–444 (April 1998)     

EBIC study of nonradiative recombination in silicon LEDs with near-band-edge luminescence

Silicon light-emitting diode structures with a near-band-edge luminescence have been studied by the EBIC method. The structures were fabricated by ion implantation with different temperatures of the final stage of the postimplantation annealing (950 and 1000°C). Upon raising the annealing temperature, the diffusion length of minority carriers increases from 1–2 to 25–35 μm in the light-emitting diode region in which the near-band-edge luminescence occurs. Also, the distribution of nonradiative recombination centers in this region becomes less nonuniform in the lateral direction, parallel to the plane of the p-n junction. It is these factors that lead to the observed substantial increase in the intensity of the near-band-edge luminescence.     

Influence of thermal annealing on the intensity of the 1.54-µm photoluminescence band in erbium-doped amorphous hydrogenated silicon

Erbium-doped a-Si:H films are prepared by magnetron sputtering of a Si-Er target at a deposition temperature of 200 °C. The films are then subjected to cumulative thermal annealing. A sharp increase (∼50-fold) in the photoluminescence intensity at a wavelength of 1.54 μm is observed after a 15-min anneal at 300 °C in a nitrogen atmosphere. At an anneal temperature ⩾500 °C the photoluminescence signal decreases essentially to zero. The influence of thermal annealing processes is discussed in the context of the model of partial transformation of the structural network of amorphous a-Si(Er):H films. Fiz. Tekh. Poluprovodn. 33, 106–109 (January 1999)     

Photoluminescence of Be implanted Si-doped GaAs

Degenerately doped n-type GaAs produces band-to-band luminescence with the peak energy dependent on the carrier concentration. In this study the photoluminescence of Si-doped GaAs is examined after implantation with high energy Be ions and annealing. The band-to-band peak energy in the unimplanted (reference) material is shown to be smaller than reported values in Te-doped GaAs of the same carrier concentration. This is attributed to compensation in the Si doped material as a result of its amphoteric nature. For the implanted samples, no luminescence was recorded for the unannealed samples or those annealed at 400°C and 500°C. Comparing the relative peak intensities from material annealed at 600°C for 15 min and 30 min indicates an increase in the number of As vacancies with anneal time. For samples annealed at 700°C and 800°C, the dominant luminescence is associated with Ga_As antisite defects. It is suggested that formation of these defects occurs predominantly only at these higher temperatures. Crystal recovery as measured by the luminescence intensity increased with both anneal temperature and time. For the implanted sample annealed at 800°C for 15 min, the dominant peak height was 25% of that from the reference sample.     

Specific Features and Nature of the 890 nm Photoluminescence Band Detected in SiO<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript> Films after Low-Temperature Annealing

A band with a peak at 890 nm is detected in the photoluminescence spectra of SiO _x (x ≈ 1.3) films deposited by thermal evaporation of SiO and annealed in air at 650–1150°C. The 890-nm band appears after low-temperature (∼650°C) annealing and exhibits a number of features: (i) as the annealing temperature is elevated to 1150°C, the position of the band peak remains unchanged, whereas the intensity increases by two orders of magnitude; (ii) the effects of the annealing atmosphere (air, vacuum) and the excitation wavelength and power density on the intensity of the 890-nm band differ from the corresponding effects on the well-known bands observable in the ranges 600–650 and 700–800 nm; and (iii) the photoluminescence decay is first fast and then much slower, with corresponding lifetimes of ∼9 and ∼70 μs. The observed features are inconsistent with the interpretation of photoluminescence observed in SiO _x so far. Specifically, the earlier observed photoluminescence was attributed to transitions between the band and defect states in the matrix and between the states of band tails, transitions inside Si nanoclusters, and intraion transitions in rare-earth impurity ions. Therefore, we consider here the possibility of attributing the 890-nm band to transitions in local centers formed by silicon ions twofold- and/or threefold-coordinated with oxygen; i.e., we attempt to interpret the 890-nm band in the same manner as was done for luminescence in SiO₂ glasses and films slightly deficient in oxygen.