Erbium-doped silicon epilayers grown by liquid-phase epitaxy

A careful analysis of the features of the spectroscopic properties of Er-doped and undoped epitaxial silicon films grown by liquid-phase epitaxy at 950 °C in silicon-saturated indium melts shows that threading dislocations work as effective gettering sites for erbium and oxygen. The last impurity is incorporated in the epitaxial film by back diffusion from the Czochralski substrate during the growth. The photoluminescence emitted by these films appears to be related to the dislocation and is enforced by the presence of erbium-oxygen complexes. Fiz. Tekh. Poluprovodn. 33, 642–643 (June 1999) Published in English in the original Russian journal. Reproduced here with stylistic changes by the Translation Editor.