  Si nanocrystals (Si-NC) in a-SiOx<Er> were created by high temperature
annealing. Si-NC samples have large emission in a broadband region, 700nm to
1000nm. Annealing temperature, annealing time, substrate type, and erbium
concentration is studied to allow emission at 1550 nm forsamples with erbium.
Emission in the C-Band region is largely reduced by the presence of Si-NC. This
reduction may be due to less efficient energy transfer processes from the
nanocrystals than from the amorphous matrix to the Er3+ ions, perhaps due to
the formation of more centro-symmetric Er3+ sites at the nanocrystal surfaces
or to very different optimal erbium concentrations between amorphous and
crystallized samples.
