An origin of orange (2 eV) photoluminescence in SiO₂ films implanted with high Si⁺-ion doses

The photoluminescence and photoluminescence excitation spectra of SiO₂ films implanted with high (3 at %) Si⁺-ion doses are studied in relation to the temperature of postimplantation annealing. It is shown that two photoluminescence bands with peaks at 2.7 and 2 eV are dominant in the spectra. As the annealing temperature is increased, the relation between the intensities of the 2.7 and 2 eV bands changes in favor of the former one. Both of the photoluminescence bands have their main excitation peak at the energy 5.1 eV. The excitation spectrum of the ∼2-eV band exhibits also peaks at 3.8 and 4.6 eV. It is concluded that, in the implanted SiO₂ films, the orange photoluminescence band originates from radiative transitions between levels of centers associated with a deficiency of oxygen (≡Si–Si≡ or =Si:) and the levels of nonbridging oxygen (≡Si–O•)