21世纪的光学和光电子学讲座 第二讲 硅基发光材料和器件研究

硅基发光材料和器件是实现光电子集成的关键．文章评述了目前取得较大进展的几种主要硅基发光材料和器件的研究,包括掺饵硅,多孔硅,纳米硅以及Ｓｉ／ＳｉＯ２ 等超晶格结构材料．展望了这些不同硅基发光材料作为发光器件和在光电集成中的发展前景     

21世纪的光学和光电子讲座第二讲 硅基发光材料和器件研究

硅基发光材料和器件是实现光电子集成的关键。文章评述了目前取得较大进展的几种主要硅基发光材料和器件的研究,包括掺饵硅,多孔硅,纳米硅以及Ｓｉ／ＳｉＯ２等超晶格结构材料,展望了这些不同硅基发光材料作为发光器件和在光电集成中的发展前景。     

硅基发光材料研究进展

微电子技术是高技术中的关键技术，硅是微电子技术的基础材料，但是硅是一种非发光材料，为了发展光电集成技术，必须大力发展硅基发光材料，多孔硅是一种有希望的硅基发光材料，它表明纳米晶粒中的量子限制效应对光发射是极有效的，随之涌现出一系列量子限制硅基发光材料，为发展光电子集成提供了新的途径。     

提高Si基材料高效率发光途径的探索

近来人们对发展硅基光电子学作出了很大的努力。众所周知，如同晶体管是微电子学的核心器件一样，发光器件将是光电子学的关键部件。然而由于硅属间接带隙材料，发光效率比直接带隙的ＧａＡｓ等化合物材料低三个多量级，因此如何在硅基材料系实现高效率发光，已成为发展硅基光电子学的重要课题，它吸收着国际上众多科学、工程家们的巨大兴趣。能带工程的应用可能将提供一条有望的途径。本文总结评述了近几年来在ＳｉＧｅ量子阱能带工程，Ｅｒ３＋离子注入发光中心掺杂工程、直接带隙β—ＦｅＳｉ２材料工程以及热电子跃迁发光带内子能级工程中所取得的重要进展。本文同时对其未来的发展提出了若干设想与展望。     

掺铒SiOx的光致发光特性

利用分子束外延设备生长了掺铒SiO_x,观察到铒掺入的同时O的掺入效率也得到提高.铒可以促进氧的掺入的原因是铒与氧在硅衬底表面反应，以络合物形式掺入硅中，从而提高了硅中氧的浓度.测量了铒在SiO_x中的光致发光特性，结果表明掺铒的SiO_x的发光强度从18K到300K仅下降了约1/2，这说明Er掺在SiO_x中是一种降低发光强度的温度淬灭效应的途径，最后讨论了温度淬灭的机制. 关键词：     

掺铒硅的发光特性及机理

Ｓｉ中掺Ｅｒ是利用Ｅｒ离子的发光来制造Ｓｉ基发光二极管的一条途径,文章对掺Ｅｒ的一些基本物理特性,如铒在硅中的电子结构,电学特性以及光致发光和电致发光的机理等,根据目前研究的进展进行了综合介绍。     

利用共溅射方法实现硅基材料上的纳米Ge的可见光发射

如何实现硅基材料的发光,一直是很受重视的一个研究方向。以往是通过硅基外延生长直接带隙材料或锗硅超晶格的途径实现Si基材料发光。90年代初发倪的多孔硅发光[1],引起人们的广泛关注,对多孔硅的制备工艺、发光特性、机理和定性以及可能的应用等方面进行了广泛的研究。但至今尚没有阐明发光机理,而且多孔硅存在结构脆弱、对环境敏感、不易实现电注入等问题。     

硅基光源的研究进展

随着人们对大容量、高速和低成本的信息传播的要求越来越迫切, 近年来硅基光电子学得以蓬勃发展, 但硅基光源一直没有得到真正的解决, 成为制约硅基光电子学发展的瓶颈. 硅的间接带隙本质给高效硅基光源的实现带来很大困难, 实用化的硅基激光是半导体科学家长期奋斗的目标. 本文分别介绍了硅基发光材料、硅基发光二极管和硅基激光的研究进展, 最后总结了目前各种硅基光源面临的问题和未来的发展方向.     

半导体材料基因组计划:硅基发光材料

材料基因组计划旨在通过实验、计算和理论的有机整合协同创新, 实现新材料研发周期减半, 成本降低到现有的几分之一, 以期加速在清洁能源、国家安全、人类福利等方面的进步. 半导体材料的研究和发展奠定了半导体科学技术在当前人类社会发展中至关重要的地位, 半导体材料基因组计划的实施将促使半导体科学技术的研究和应用进入一个崭新的时代. 本文基于基因遗传算法理论设计硅基发光材料的研究工作探讨了半导体材料基因组计划的实施构想. 首先简单介绍了硅基发光的应用前景和开发硅基发光材料所面临的挑战. 随后介绍了基于模拟达尔文物种进化的基因遗传算法和高精度高性能的能带结构计算方法, 设定高效带边发光这一目标, 逆向设计拥有直接带隙发光的二维Si/Ge超晶格和一维Si/Ge核-多壳纳米线, 为实施半导体材料基因组计划提供了一个范例, 显示了材料基因组计划的强大力量和巨大价值. 最后对半导体材料基因组计划的实施提了几点建议.     

用溶胶-凝胶方法制备Tb3+掺杂的硅基发光材料

报道了用溶胶-凝胶方法制备Tb³⁺掺杂的硅基发光材料.并用荧光光谱、傅里叶变换红外光谱、原子力显微镜、差热分析和热重测定等方法研究了材料的制备规律.实验结果表明该制备方法在500℃的退火条件下即可以使Tb³⁺掺杂到硅基发光材料产生室温下的545nm荧光;稀土离子的掺杂浓度可任意调节,最佳浓度为5×10¹⁹/cm³;薄膜在微米量级上有较好的平整度.用该方法在改善材料的掺杂浓度、发光性能及降低材料的退火温度方面有特殊的优越 关键词：     

Si-based erbium-doped light-emitting devices

We report on the fabrication and performance of Si-based light sources. The devices consist of MOS structures with erbium (Er)-doped silicon rich oxide (SRO) film as gate dielectric. The devices exhibit electroluminescence (EL) at 1.54 μm at room temperature with a 0.2% external quantum efficiency. These devices show a high stability due to the silicon excess in the film. The Er-doped SRO films have been introduced in a Si/SiO₂ Fabry-Perot Microcavity in order to increase the spontaneous emission rate, the extraction efficiency and the spectral purity at the resonant wavelength. The active medium in the cavity has been electrically pumped and the conduction mechanisms have been analyzed. The EL spectra have also been acquired and compared with photoluminescence (PL) ones for the same resonant cavity light-emitting device (RCLED). The EL and PL peak intensities of the on-axis emission at the resonant wavelength are over 20 times above that of the similar Er-doped SRO film without a cavity. The Si-based RCLEDs exhibit different quality factors, ranging from 60 to 170. The spectra shape and intensity have been correlated with the quality factor. A high directionality of the emitted light, due to the presence of the resonant cavity, has also been observed: the overall luminescence is confined within 10° cone from the sample normal.     

Sensitized broadband near-infrared luminescence from bismuth-doped silicon-rich silica films

Developing Si compatible optical sources has attracted a great deal of attention owing to the potential for forming inexpensive, monolithic Si-based integrated devices. In this Letter, we show that ultra broadband near-IR (NIR) luminescence in the optical telecommunication window of silica optical fibers was obtained for Bi-doped silicon-rich silica films prepared by a co-sputtering method. Without excess Si, i.e., Bi-doped pure silica films, no luminescence was observed in the NIR range. A broad Bi-related NIR photoluminescence appears when excess Si was doped in the Bi-doped silica. The luminescence properties depended strongly on the amount of excess Si and the annealing temperature. Photoluminescence results suggest that excess Si acts as an agent to activate Bi NIR luminescence centers and also as an energy donor to transfer excitation energy to the centers. It is believed that this peculiar structure might find some important applications in Si photonics.     

Optical activation of patterned Si nanowires grown from sol-gel prepared gold/Er-doped aluminous film

Optical activation of patterned Si nanowires grown from sol-gel prepared gold/Er-doped aluminous film is investigated. The growth of patterned Si nanowires (SiNWs), the doping of Er ions and the sintered process are completed by one step. Si nanowires were grown from a sol-gel solution containing both Au catalysts and Er ions by the vapor-liquid-solid method. Such Er-activated Si nanowires achieve both high carrier-mediated excitation efficiency and high Er luminescence efficiency while at the same time providing high areal density of Er and easy current injection, indicating the possibility of activated patterned Si nanowires grown from sol-gel film as a material platform for Si-based photonics.     

Spherical growth and surface-quasifree vibrations of Si nanocrystallites in Er-doped Si nanostructures

Si-based Er-doped Si nanostructures were fabricated for exploring efficient light emission from Er ions and Si nanocrystallites. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy observations reveal that Si nanocrystallites are spherically embedded in the SiO2 matrix. Energy-dispersive x-ray analysis indicates that the Er centers are distributed at the surfaces of nanocrystallites surrounded by the SiO2 matrix. Low-frequency Raman scattering investigation shows that Lamb's theory can be adopted to exactly calculate the surface vibration frequencies from acoustic phonons confined in spherical Si nanocrystallites and the matrix effects are negligible.     

Intrinsic luminescence from metal nanostructures and its applications

Intrinsic luminescence from metal nanostructures complements conventional scattering and absorption behaviors and has many interesting and unique features. This phenomenon has attracted considerable research attention in recent years because of its various potential applications. In this review, we discuss recent advances in this field, summarize potential applications for this type of luminescence, and compare theoretical models to describe the phenomena. On the basis of the excitation process, the characteristic features and corresponding applications are summarized briefly in three parts, namely,continuous-wave light, pulsed laser, and electron excitation. A universal physical mechanism likely operates in all these emission processes regardless of differences in the excitation processes; however, there remains some debate surrounding the details of the theoretical model. Further insight into these luminescence phenomena will not only provide a deeper fundamental understanding of plasmonic nanostructures but will also advance and extend their applications.     

Metal plasmon enhanced europium complex luminescence

The plasmon enhanced luminescence of a rare-earth complex Tris(6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 8-heptafluoro-2, 2-dimethyl-3, 5-octanedionato) europium (Eu(fod)₃) was investigated. A polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) thin film was successfully adopted as a spacer to separate the Eu complex from the silver island film (SIF), and five-fold enhancement of the radiative decay rate of the Eu complex on SIF was demonstrated based on the luminescence intensity and lifetime measurement. Investigation of the distance dependent luminescence indicates that 7 nm is an optimal distance for SIF enhanced Eu luminescence. Plasmon enhanced rare-earth luminescence based on an organic film spacer would find potential applications in plasmon enhanced organic light emitting diode (OLED) devices.     

Broad excitation of Er luminescence in Er-doped HfO2 films

We investigated the broad and sensitized luminescence properties of Er-doped HfO₂ films synthesized by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and ion implantation techniques. In the investigation we focused on the mechanism of energy transfer in the host matrix. Based on the comparison of photoluminescence (PL), photoluminescence excitation (PLE), and cathode-luminescence (CL), as well as on microstructure measurements, an excitation transfer process resulting in the broad excitation for Er, luminescence at 1540 nm, is identified. In this process, the oxygen vacancies and Hf in the host HfO₂ serve mainly as effective sensitizers for neighboring Er ions in the nonresonant excitation process. Furthermore, the direct Er³⁺ intra-4f transitions and full spectral emission of Er ions in the HfO₂ matrix are clearly observed under the wide-spectrum excitation in the CL measurement. This reveals more detailed features for the energy transfer and transition processes.     

Effect of erbium concentration on optical properties of Er:YLF laser crystals

Four Er-doped LiYF₄ crystals with different Er-concentrations were grown by Czochralski method. The laser crystals were characterized by measurements of ICP-AES, XRD, absorption spectra, up-conversion fluorescence spectra, near-infrared (NIR) and mid-infrared (Mid-IR) fluorescence spectra, as well as luminescence decays. It was found that the heavily 15 at% Er-doped YLF crystal is more proper in up-conversion or ∼3 μm laser applications; while the 5 at% Er-doped YLF is a better candidate for ∼1.5 μm lasers within these four crystals.     

A time-correlated photon counting system for measurement of pulsed optically stimulated luminescence

A versatile light-emitting-diode system for measurement of time-resolved luminescence spectra is described. The instrument is an improvement on a previously reported version [1] also based on pulsed light-emitting diodes. The present configuration offers substantially improved performance in measurement of time-resolved optically stimulated luminescence spectra and records the luminescence with better dynamic throughput. Measurements made on sedimentary quartz annealed at 800 °C as an exemplar show that the luminescence obtained after the light pulse as a proportion of the total measured signal falls within the usable dynamic range of 0.1-98% for pulse-widths between 3 and , a range of pulse-widths and so luminescence yield that is sufficient for most contemporary applications of time-resolved optically stimulated luminescence.