Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2011
We present a high resolution photoluminescence (PL) study of Si:Er which allows to distinguish a variety of Er centers occurring in Er-implanted Si. The lines belonging to a particular center are identified from the influence of processing parameters, temperature, excitation power, co-doping and hydrostatic pressure. The center-dependent high temperature yield is limited by the competition in efficiency of capturing excitons at Er centers or nearby defects followed by the excitation transfer to the Er-4f shell and by recombination of excitons at other, non-radiative centers. The excitation transfer probability is shown to depend on hydrostatic pressure of a few kbar. This effect indicates a new possibility to improve the efficiency of Si:Er light emitters.