AVS 50th International Symposium
    Electronic Materials and Devices Tuesday Sessions
       Session EM+SC-TuP

Paper EM+SC-TuP17
Visible and Near-infrared Electroluminescence from Er-doped GaN Thin Films Prepared by RF Planar Magnetron Sputter Deposition

Tuesday, November 4, 2003, 5:30 pm, Room Hall A-C

Session: Poster Session
Presenter: M.R. Davidson, University of Florida
Authors: J.H. Kim, University of Florida
M.R. Davidson, University of Florida
N. Shepherd, University of Florida
P.H. Holloway, University of Florida
Correspondent: Click to Email
Erbium (Er)-doped GaN thin films were prepared by radio frequency (RF) planar magnetron co-sputtering of a commercial GaN target and a metallic Er target in a pure nitrogen atmosphere. The alternating-current thin-film electroluminescent (ACTFEL) devices were fabricated using a standard half-stack configuration with an Al metal electrode, GaN:Er electroluminescent layer, ATO (Al@sub2@O@sub3@-TiO@sub2@) dielectric, and ITO (indium-tin-oxide) transparent conducting electrode. Visible and near-infrared (NIR) EL emission peaks were observed from the fabricated devices at 530, 550, 660, 1000, and 1550 nm. These emissions were attributed to the Er@super3+@ 4f - 4f intrashell transitions from the @super2@H@sub11/2@, @super4@S@sub3/2@, @super4@F@sub9/2@, @super4@I@sub11/2@, and @super4@I@sub13/2@ excited-state levels to the @super4@I@sub15/2@ ground-state, respectively. GaN host films had a wurtzite polycrystalline structure with a preferred orientation in the [0001] direction perpendicular to the film surface. Full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the (0002) wurtzite-GaN diffraction peak and the lattice constant, c both increased from 0.38° to 0.45° and from 5.18 Å to 5.205 Å, respectively, as the Er concentration in GaN host was varied from 0 to around 5 at.%, indicating that incorporation of larger Er atoms into GaN host expands the host lattice. The optimum concentration of Er was determined to be around 1 at.% for both of the green 530 nm and NIR 1550 nm emissions.