Luminescence of Er-doped Amorphous Silicon Quantum Dots

摘要

The role of the size of amorphous silicon quantum dots in the Er luminescence at 1.54 μm was investigated. As the dot size was increased, the more Er ions were located near one dot due to its large surface area and more Er ions interacted with other Er ions. This Er-Er interaction caused a weak photoluminescence intensity despite the increase in the effective excitation cross section. The critical dot size, needed to take advantage of the positive effect on Er luminescence, is considered to be about 2.0 nm, below which a small dot is very effective in the efficient luminescence of Er. However, the hydrogenation is considered to suppress this Er-Er interaction.