Visible emission from AlN doped with Eu, Tb, and Er ions

We report the observation of visible cathodoluminescence (CL) from AlN thin films grown on sapphire (0001) substrate by molecular beam and doped by implantation with Eu³⁺, Tb³⁺, and Er³⁺ ions. The strong rare earth CL was observed from samples annealed at 1100°C for 0.5 h in N₂ ambient. The sharp characteristic emission lines corresponding to Eu³⁺, Tb³⁺, and Er³⁺ intra -4fⁿ shell transitions are resolved in the spectral range from 300 to 1050 nm, (for Er³⁺ also infrared emission at 1.54 μm was observed). The CL was recorded over the temperature range of 9-330 K. The CL kinetics for several transitions of Eu³⁺(⁵D₀), Tb³⁺(⁵D_{3, 4}) and, and Er³⁺( ²H_9/2, ⁴F_7/2) was analyzed