Optical performance of thin films produced by the pulsed laser deposition of SiAlON and Er targets

•PLD production of Er-doped thin films from a low cost commercial SiAlON target.•The role of the ablation fluence on the composition, optical properties as well as on the light emission performance at 1.5μm.•The optimized performance is obtained for the samples deposited at the higher used ablation energy density. Further improvement was achieved through annealing. We report the preparation and optical performance of thin films produced by pulsed laser deposition in vacuum at room temperature, by focusing an ArF excimer laser onto two separate targets: a commercial ceramic SiAlON and a metallic Er target. As a result of the alternate deposition Er:SiAlON films were formed. The as grown films exhibited an Er-related emission peaking at 1532nm. The role of the PLD energy density during deposition on the final matrix film was investigated, in order to achieve an optimized matrix composition with enhanced optical properties, and its effect on the light emission performance.