Study on vacuum ultraviolet spectra of amorphous Er2O3 films on Si(001) substrates

Amorphous Er2O3 films have been fabricated on p-type Si(001) substrates using radio frequency magnetron sputtering technique. Vacuum ultraviolet spectra were employed to investigate the samples. An optical gap of 6.17 eV for Er2O3 films was obtained from the absorption coefficient spectra. A possible reason was put forward to explain the inconsistent results about the band gap of Er2O3 in literatures. Emission spectra exhibited a strong emission band at 494 nm with the incident ultraviolet light of 249 nm. The observed high density of emission bands of Er2O3 films in the visible wavelength indicated that Er2O3 films could be used in Si solar cells for increasing conversion efficiency.