RADIATIVE AND NONRADIATIVE-TRANSITIONS IN GAAS-ER

Erbium doped GaAs was grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition using a novel liquid precursor: tris(n-butylcyclopentadienyl)erbium [Er(C4H9C5H4)3]. The morphology was excellent at growth temperatures near 620-degrees-C. Based on a simple model for the excitation dependence of the emission, the nonradiative Auger-type process was estimated to be nearly five times that of the energy transfer process from bound excitons to the Er3+ ions that subsequently resulted in the Er-related light emission. Temperature induced quenching of the emission was found to be dominated by transitions with an activation energy of 74 meV.