The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Peruvian science foundation Cienciactiva in the framework of the DAAD-CONCYTEC joint project (2017-2019), the “Círculo de investigación” project and the Research Management Office (DGI) of the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP). The research activity was performed in the framework of the doctoral scholarship of K. Tucto and L. Flores from CONCYTEC under the contract numbers 012-2013-FONDECYT and 000236-2015-FONDECYT-DE, respectively. The authors are also grateful to the Center of Microcharacterization (CAM) of the PUCP for the EDX and PL measurements.

Terbium-doped aluminum nitride thin films have been deposited by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. The influence of annealing treatments on structural, morphological and luminescence properties of the films is examined with the aim to optimize post-deposition annealing conditions. Temperatures starting from 500 up to 1000°C using two annealing techniques were investigated: rapid thermal processing and quartz tube furnace. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed the formation of aluminum oxide and aluminum oxynitride phases at temperatures higher than 750°C. The oxygen content in the surface layer was measured with energy dispersive X-ray. The terbium emission was obtained after excitation either by photons or electrons. The films treated with rapid thermal processing at 750°C resulted in the highest emission. © 2017 Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.

This work was funded by the Peruvian science foundation FONDECYT under the projects “Círculos de investigación en ciencia y tecnología-2”, contract number 011-2014 and under the cooperation project with the German academic exchange service (DAAD), contract number 035-2016. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the support of Karem Tucto and Loreleyn Flores by CONCYTEC under the contract numbers 012-2013-FONDECYT and 000236-2015-FONDECYTDE, respectivley.

This work was supported by the Peruvian science foundation CIENCIACTIVA of CONCYTEC and DAAD-CONCYTEC project (2017–2019). The Research Management Office (DGI) of the the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP) project 492-2017. The research activity was performed in the framework of the doctoral scholarship of L. F. Flores under the contract number 236-2015-FONDECYT. The authors are also thankful to the Center of Materials Characterization (CAM) and the Institute of Corrosion and Protection (ICP) of the PUCP for the EDX, PL and FTIR measurements.