Crystalline and the luminescence characteristics of β-FeSi2 in photonics formed by pulsed laser deposition

Compound semiconducting silicide beta-FeSi₂ has been formed on FZ - Si (111) substrates by means of pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method using ArF (lambda = 193 nm) excimer laser. In photoluminescence (PL) measurements at 8K detected by a Ge detector, the PL spectra of the samples annealed at 900 degC for 1, 5, 8 and 20 hrs showed that the PL intensities of the A-and peak increased depending on annealing time in comparison with those of the as-deposited sample. The intrinsic PL intensity of the A-band peak from 20 hr annealed sample was investigated. The dependence of the PL excitation power density of the 20-hr-annealed sample also showed A-band peak at 0.808 eV that almost constant peak position. The temperature dependence PL intensity of the 20-hr-annealed sample in the ranges 15 K~150 K by an InGaAs detector showed the PL peak was at 0.808 eV. This peak confirmed the intrinsic PL peak of A-band of the beta-FeSi₂. The transmittance of the thin films was measured in the range 0-2500 nm. Moreover, it is calculated the refractive indices using the reflectance. We report an application of beta-FeSi₂ with crystalline and luminescence characteristics with a high refractive index in photonics.