Abstract
A new integrated deposition system taking advantage of magnetron sputtering and electron cyclotron-plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (IMS ECR-PECVD) is presented that mitigates the drawbacks of each fabrication system. This tailor-made system provides users with highly homogeneous and pure thin films with less undesired hydrogen and well-controlled rare-earth concentration compared to existing methods of rare-earth doping, such as metalorganic powders, sputtering, and ion implantation. We established the first comprehensive report on the deposition parameters of argon flow and sputtering power to achieve desired rare-earth concentrations in a wide composition range of terbium (Tb) doped-silicon oxide (Tb:SiO(x)) matrices including silicon-rich (x < 2), oxygen-rich (x > 2), and stoichiometric silicon oxide (x = 2). The deposition parameters to fabricate crystalline structure (Tb(2)Si(2)O(7)) in oxygen-rich samples are reported where Tb ions are optically active. IMS ECR-PECVD pushes the solubility limit of the rare-earth dopant in silicon films to 17 at.% for the desired future nanophotonic devices. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1557/s43578-023-01207-2.