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ARTICLE

Er³⁺-doped SiO₂-TeO₂-ZnO-Na₂O thin film fabricated by ultrafast laser plasma doping under different ambient atmospheres

S. A. Kamil^a,b,*, G. Jose^c

a Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
b NANO-SciTech Laboratory, Centre for Functional Materials and Nanotechnology, Institute of Science, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor Malaysia
c School of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Leeds, Clarendon Road, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK

* Corresponding Author:

Chalcogenide Letters 2024, 21(1), 11-20. https://doi.org/10.15251/CL.2024.211.11

Received 11 October 2023; Accepted 02 January 2024;

Abstract

Er³⁺-ions doped SiO₂-ZnO-Na₂O thin films were fabricated using ultrafast laser plasma doping (ULPD) techniques under different ambient atmospheres; vacuum, nitrogen, oxygen and argon gas. The thickness of the layer produced depends on the ambient atmosphere during fabrication. The layer fabricated under a vacuum is the thinnest among all of the samples. In addition, the surface layer for the sample fabricated under a vacuum environment seems to be relatively smoother compared with those of the others. XRD patterns show that all samples are in a mixed amorphous-crystalline phase. All the Raman spectra exhibited a similar pattern, except for the intensity of the Si peak which depended on the thickness of the obtained layer. The PL intensity for each sample corresponds to the amount of Er ³⁺ ions embedded in the doped layer. However, all samples still exhibited silicate-based characteristics, indicating nitrogen in Si₃N₄ was lost in the form of nitrogen gas during fabrication.

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Keywords

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