Erbium implantation in silicon: from materials properties to light emitting devices

Erbium implantation in silicon has recently emerged as a promising method to tailor the optical properties of Si towards the achievement of a light emission at 1.54 mu m. In this paper we will review our recent work on this subject. In particular a detailed investigation of the nonradiative processes, competing with the radiative emission of Er in Si will be presented, Among these processes, an Auger de-excitation with the energy released to free carriers will be demonstrated to be extremely efficient, with an Auger coefficient C-A similar to 4.4 x 10(-13) cm(3) s(-1). Using the knowledge on the material properties, an efficient Er implanted light emitting diode has been fabricated. It will be shown that by exciting Er within the depletion region of reverse biased p(+)-n(+) Si diodes in the breakdown regime it is possible to avoid Auger quenching and to achieve high efficiency. Moreover, at the switch off of the diode, when the depletion region shrinks, the excited Er ions become suddenly embedded within the neutral heavily doped region of the device. In this region Auger de-excitation with free carriers sets in and quenches the luminescence rapidly. This allows modulation of the light emitting devices at frequencies as high as a few MHz. These data will be presented and discussed. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.