Erbium implantation in silicon: a way toward Si-based optoelectronics

In this paper our recent work on erbium implantation for optical doping of silicon is reviewed. It is shown that O co-implantation plays a key role both in providing Er with the appropriate chemical surrounding and in allowing the incorporation of high Er concentrations in thick Si layers without the formation of twins and/or precipitates. The luminescence intensity in Er and O co-implanted samples shows a much weaker temperature dependence (a decrease by a factor of 30 from 77K to 300K) than in samples without O (a decrease by 3 orders of magnitude in the same temperature range). This allowed us to observe room temperature photo- and electro-luminescence in Er and O co-doped samples. The temperature dependence of the luminescence in these samples has been determined to be due to non-radiative de-excitation processes. These data are reported and discussed.