Green light emission from terbium doped silicon rich silicon oxide films obtained by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition

The effect of silicon concentration and annealing temperature on terbium luminescence was investigated for thin silicon rich silicon oxide films. The structures were deposited by means of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The structural properties of these films were investigated by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, transmission electron microscopy and Raman scattering. The optical properties were investigated by means of photoluminescence and photoluminescence decay spectroscopy. It was found that both the silicon concentration in the film and the annealing temperature have a strong impact on the terbium emission intensity. In this paper, we present a detailed discussion of these issues and determine the optimal silicon concentration and annealing temperature.