Erbium-doped AlN epilayers synthesized by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition

Erbium doped AlN epilayers (AlN:Er) have been grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition. The 1.54 μm emission properties were probed by photoluminescence (PL) emission spectroscopy and compared with those of GaN:Er. Optimum intensity of the 1.54 μm emission from AlN:Er was obtained for growth temperature at 1050 °C. It was found that the emission intensity from AlN:Er is higher than that from GaN:Er for above and below energy gap, as well as resonant excitation. A significant narrowing of the infrared Er PL lines was observed when pumping resonantly into an intra-4f transition. The integrated intensity of the 1.54 μm emission shows a decrease by a factor of only 1.2 between 10 K and 300 K. ©2014 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: (160.5690) Rare-earth-doped materials; (250.5230) Photoluminescence. References and links 1. J. M. Zavada, S. X. Jin, N. Nepal, H. X. Jiang, J. Y. Lin, P. Chow, and B. 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