Fabrication and Optical Properties of Erbium-Doped Germanium Nanowires

摘要

One-dimensional nanocrystalline semiconductors have been under extensive investigation due to electronic, electromechanical, and optical properties arising as a consequence of their wire-like geometry. Much effort has been devoted to the syntheses of Si and Ge nanowires (NWs) that can be used as building blocks for more complex nanoelectronic devices. In that regard, the incorporation of erbium ions (Er~(3+)) into these semiconductors is a promising method for preparation of electronic devices with efficient optical functions, since the ~4I_(13.2) → ~4I_(15/2) luminescence transition at 1.54 μm from Er~(3+) lies at a transmission maximum for silica-based waveguides. Recently, our group has explored the fabrication and the optical properties of Er~(3+)-doped Si nanocrys-tals (NCs) and Er~(3+)-surface enriched NWs that could be used for emitter, waveguide, or detector purposes in a monolithic Si device. In terms of other possible host materials, germanium possesses several interesting attributes.