1.54-µm Photoluminescence from Er-Implanted A1N & GaN

Abstract

The study of rare-earth-doped III-V semiconductors has generated interest because of the potential for producing efficient, room temperature, electrically excited, sharp intra-4f rare-earth emissions for optoelectronic device applications such as lasers and light-emitting diodes. III-V nitrides and in particular GaN, AlN, and their ternary alloys with InN, are attractive for fabricating optoelectronics devices that could operate in the uv, visible, and infrared wavelength ranges. Recent advances in growth techniques for GaN, AlN, and ternary films have led to the availability of quality material that is suitable as a host for rare-earth ion incorporation. We discuss the observation of the 1.54-µm luminescence of optically excited Er³⁺ in ion implanted epitaxially grown films that include GaN and AlN grown on GaAs or on sapphire. We propose energy level diagrams to account for essentially all of the observed wavelengths/energies for two different GaN structures.