Electronic structure of light emitting centers in Er doped Si

Ab-initio calculations are carried out for the Er-related electrically active centers in Si. Our proposed microscopic model is consistent with photoluminescence measurements on Si:Er and Si:Er:O samples. For isolated Er, the tetrahedral interstitial site is the stable configuration, being related to the photoluminescence lines in Si:Er. Several configurations containing oxygen and fluorine atoms, surrounding the Er impurities, are proposed to simulate the effects of co-implantation. The results suggest that six oxygen atoms around substitutional Er can stabilize the center, which can be related to the strong photoluminescence lines in Si:Er:O samples. On the other hand, no configuration containing fluorine atoms could explain the stronger photoluminescence lines resulting from fluorine co-implantation.