Efficient Auger-excitation of erbium electroluminescence in reversely-biased silicon structures
- 25 October 1999
- journal article
- Published by AIP Publishing in Applied Physics Letters
- Vol. 75 (17) , 2617-2619
- https://doi.org/10.1063/1.125096
Abstract
In p–n junctions based on c-Si:Er, we have observed strongly efficient excitation of erbium electroluminescence at 1.54 μm. Excitation of erbium ions is accompanied by strong recombination of free carriers indicating a participation of an Auger mechanism. A possible excitation mechanism is proposed which is the Auger recombination of electrons occupying the upper subband of the conduction band with free holes in the valence band, whereas the energy of the recombination process is transferred by Coulomb interaction to 4f electrons of an erbium ion transmitting it to the second excited state I411/2 (excitation energy 1.26 eV). The observed three-level excitation of erbium ions is promising for the development of a Si:Er laser.Keywords
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