Erbium doped semiconductors have been intensively studied in the last decade for potential optoelectronic applications. Er~(3+)ions are well known to exhibit sharp and temperature stable luminescence at 1.54 #mu#m, which arises from the intra-4f shell transition ~4I_(13/2)->~4I_(15/2). Therefore, Er doped semiconductors offer the prospect of electrically pumped, compact, and temperature stable 1.54 #mu#m light sources, which could be of great interest for optical fiber communications. Unfortunately, the development of these devices has been hampered by a weak Er~(3+) luminescence efficiency at room temperature. For example, the luminescence from Er doped Si or GaAs quenches by several orders of magnitude when increasing the temperature from 15 to 300K. The recent discovery that Er~(3+) luminescence quenching decreases with increasing band gap of the semiconductor host has stimulated interst in Er doped wide gap semiconductors. In this paper we present an overview of the optical properties of Er doped III-Nitrides and discuss their potential for device applications.
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