Erbium doping into thin carbon optical layers

Study of fabrication and properties of the carbon layers by using the plasma assisted chemical vapour deposition apparatus is reported. The layers were grown on silicon substrates with methane as the precursor. The fabricated samples were then doped with Er3+ by treating them in solution of erbium nitrate in glycerin. To obtain deeper erbium containing carbon layers the 'sandwich method' was used based on repetition (three times) of carbon deposition and subsequent Er3+ diffusion of erbium after which followed annealing in vacuum oven. The obtained results proved that it is in principle possible to fabricate the erbium containing carbon thin optical layers