The results of an ongoing collaborative project between the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and SEMATECH on the temperature-dependent emissivity of silicon-related materials and structures are presented in this study. These results have been acquired using a spectral emissometer. This emissometer consists of a Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) spectrometer designed specifically to facilitate simultaneous measurements of surface spectral emittance and temperature by using optical techniques over the near- and mid-IR spectral range and temperatures ranging from 300 K to 2000 K. This noncontact, real-time technique has been used to measure radiative properties as a function of temperature and wavelength for a wide range of silicon-related materials and structures. The first results of the temperature and wavelength dependent emissivity and hence refractive index of silicon nitride, in the literature, is presented in this study.

Room-temperature 1535 nm band photoluminescence in ∼126 nm silica films (6 at% doping), produced by spin coating an Er₂O₃ and tetraethylorthosilicate sol–gel formulation on silicon substrates, was studied as a function of vacuum furnace annealing (500–1050 °C). Emission is strongly enhanced for annealing near 850 °C, which is shown by modelling the temperature dependence as arising from thermally activated removal of hydroxyl ions. Suitability of such a process for silicon-based applications is discussed.