Optimization of photoluminescence from W centers in silicon-on-insulator

TL;DR

This paper optimizes the implantation and annealing conditions for W centers in silicon-on-insulator to significantly enhance photoluminescence, enabling scalable, uniform silicon-based light sources for integrated photonics.

Contribution

It provides the first systematic optimization of W center photoluminescence in silicon-on-insulator, achieving nearly two orders of magnitude improvement and demonstrating wafer-scale uniformity.

Findings

Near two orders of magnitude increase in photoluminescence intensity.

Uniform luminescence across 300-mm wafers within measurement error.

Successful demonstration of scalable, wafer-level fabrication of silicon light sources.

Abstract

W centers are trigonal defects generated by self-ion implantation in silicon that exhibit photoluminescence at 1.218 $\mu$m. We have shown previously that they can be used in waveguide-integrated all-silicon light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Here we optimize the implant energy, fluence and anneal conditions to maximize the photoluminescence intensity for W centers implanted in silicon-on-insulator, a substrate suitable for waveguide-integrated devices. After optimization, we observe near two orders of magnitude improvement in photoluminescence intensity relative to the conditions with the stopping range of the implanted ions at the center of the silicon device layer. The previously demonstrated waveguide-integrated LED used implant conditions with the stopping range at the center of this layer. We further show that such light sources can be manufactured at the 300-mm scale by demonstrating photoluminescence of similar intensity from 300 mm silicon-on-insulator wafers. The luminescence uniformity across the entire wafer is within the measurement error.