Intense erbium-1.54-μm photoluminescence from 2 to 525 K in ion-implanted 4H, 6H, 15R, and 3C SiC

We have observed intense line spectra in the neighborhood of 1.54 μm from erbium-implanted samples of 4H, 6H, 15R, and 3C SiC. Samples were implanted to a fluence of about 1013 erbium ions/cm2 using four implant energies. An anneal at 1700 °C in a SiC cavity was used. The temperature dependence of the integrated luminescence intensity from 1.49 to 1.64 μm varies very little from 2 to 400 K. No major differences are found for the spectra of the hexagonal and rhombohedral polytypes but there is a difference for cubic SiC (3C SiC).