Photoluminescent Properties Of A1n:Eu,Si Thin Films

A1N:Eu,Si thin films were prepared by RF reactive magnetron sputtering using Ar (purity 99.999 %, 2.4 sccm) and N-2 (purity 99.99995 %, 5.6 stem) mixture gas. The small pieces of Eu (purity 99.9 %) chips and Si (purity 99.999 %) chips were placed on the Al (purity 99.999 %) target. By varying the number of the chips, compositions of the thin films were different. After the deposition, samples were annealed for 30 minutes in the temperature 900 degrees C in N-2 gas (purity 99.999 %) and H-2 gas (purity 99.99999 %) atmospheres. Annealed at 1000 degrees C, the A1N:Eu,Si thin films were peeling away from n-Si (111) substrates. In photoluminescence (PL) measurements, the PL spectra of thin films showed emission from 4f(6)5d(1) -> 4f(7) transition of Eu2+ ions and intra-4f-shell transition of Eu3+ ions in the thin films.