Luminescence of Er in hydrogenated amorphous silicon film is promising for its potential application in optoelectronics. We investigated the influence of some light elements on the luminescence of Er in silicon based materials. O

B

P doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon films are fabricated via plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition technique. XPS analysis indicated the ratio of Si and O contents in the film is 1:1. After room-temperature erbium implantation and rapid thermal annealing in N

2

ambient

photoluminescence (PL) of Er was measured. At room temperature strong PL of 1.54μm peak was observed. Oxygen has a great enhancement function on Er photoluminescence and B or P co-doped with O further enhances PL intensity of Er. Rapid thermal annealing experiments indicated that the incorporation of three elements compensated the defects of the films

improved the thermal stability and enhanced the escaping temperature of H. The annealing temperature corresponding to the optimum PL intensity increased by 100℃

respectively

in three different kinds of samples. We attributed this phenomenon to the incorporation of O

B and P. The presence of oxygen with erbium formed optically active [Er-O] complexes which greatly enhanced PL intensity. Also the excitation mechanism of Er was discussed.