Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 February 2011
In previous work we reported on the observation of continuously tunable photoluminescence in Si+-implanted SiO2-films with moderate intensities. In this paper we demonstrate improved performance of such samples. The photoluminescence intensity increases abruptly up to two orders of magnitude when the anneal temperature is elevated to values higher than 1000…1100°C. This strong photoluminescence degrades less than that of porous silicon. Very fine tunability in the spectral range from 2.1 eV to 1.3 eV is achieved in samples implanted with a graded dose. In the analysis of the results we try to distinguish between the contributions of the Si-nanocrystals and of the oxide related defects.