The electrical activity of defective states in Er-doped material was investigated. An Er-doped epitaxial layer was grown using liquid-phase epitaxy, and exhibited optical emission at 1.54μm. The presence and activity of dislocations was revealed by the appearance of lines in the photoluminescence spectra. This was confirmed by spectroscopic investigations of existing deep levels; carried out using deep-level transient spectroscopy and optical deep-level transient spectroscopic analysis. The defective states were also characterized by using electron beam-induced current and optical beam-induced current techniques. The latter images revealed interesting lattice sites, where local emission of charge carriers occurred.

On the Role of Extended Defects in the Transport Properties of Er-Doped Si A.Castaldini, A.Cavallini, B.Fraboni, S.Pizzini: Philosophical Magazine Letters, 2000, 80[4], 571-8