Influence of Ambient Gas on the Microstructural Properties of Er-doped Nanocystalline Si Film Fabricated by Pulsed Laser Ablation

摘要

Er-doped nanocrystalline Si thin films were fabricated by pulsed laser ablation in high-purity Ar gas with different gas pressures at room temperature and post-annealing technology under different temperature in nitrogen. Scanning electron microscopy(SEM), x-ray diffraction(XRD) and Raman were employed to picture the microstructure of films. The SEM photographs showed that the morphology of film was transformed from the uniform nanoparticles in size to the web-like structure with the increase of gas pressure, which was attributed to the different collision cooling process of ablated particles. Raman and XRD spectra showed that the introduction of Ar gas could effectively improve the crystallinity degree of the samples and Si nanoparticle size could be controlled by adjusting the post-annealing temperature which was critical for improving the luminescent intensity of Er~(3+) ion. More uniform and higher crystallinity degree Er-doped Si thin films could be obtained at lower annealing temperature.