Photoluminescence and Electroluminescence Studies on Tb-Doped Silicon Rich Oxide Materials and Devices

Photoluminescence (PL) characteristics of Tb-doped silicon rich oxide (SRO) films prepared by DC-sputtering and post-annealing processes were studied. The silicon richness of the SRO film could be controlled by varying the sputtering power and oxygen concentration in the sputtering chamber. PL emission from the as-deposited sample was found to be composed of Tb3+ intra 4f transition-related emission and the silicon nano particle-related broad bandwidth emission. Thermal annealing could significantly improve the material properties as well as the PL signals. PL properties depended strongly upon the annealing scheme and silicon richness. Annealing at high temperatures (900 ∼ 1050 °C) enhanced Tb-related emission and suppressed the silicon nano particle-related emission. For samples with different silicon richness, annealing at 950 °C was found to produce higher PL signals than at other temperatures. It was attributed more to lifetime quenching than to concentration quenching. Electroluminescent (EL) devices with a capacitor structure were fabricated, the optimized process condition for the EL device was found to be different from that of PL emission. Among the annealing schemes that were used, wet oxidation was found to improve device performance the most, whereas, dry oxidation was found to improve material property the most. Wet oxidation allowed the breakdown electrical field to increase significantly and to reach above 10 mV·cm−1. The EL spectra showed a typical Tb3+ emission, agreeing well with the PL spectra. The I-V measurements indicated that for 100 nm thick film, the Fowler-Nordheim tunneling started at an electrical field of around 6 mV·cm−1 and the light emission became detectable at a current density of around 10−4 A ·cm−2 and higher. Strong electroluminescence light emission was detected when the electrical field was close to 10 mV·cm−1.