Optical and magnetic properties for erbium-related centres in self-assembly silicon nanostructures

摘要

We present the first findings of a highly efficient Er~(3+)-related electroluminescence (~4I_(13/2))->(~4I_(15/2)) from self-assembly silicon nanostructures with sizes varying from 1.0 to 10 em that are naturally formed as a subsequence of quantum-size n~+-p junctions. The built-in electric field induced by these n~+-p junctions is found to result in the Stark effect that perturbs strong sp-f mixing due to the electron-hole localization on the Er~(3+) ions incorporated into nanostructures. This spatial confinement is shown to cause ultrafast energy transfer to the erbium-related centres which increases with decreasing size of nanostructures thereby enhancing the electroluminescent efficiency.