Anomalous luminescence phenomena of indium-doped ZnO nanostructures grown on Si substrates by the hydrothermal method

• Published in: Nanoscale research letters Vol. 7; no. 1; p. 270
• Main Authors: Wang, Jen-Cheng, Cheng, Fang-Ching, Liang, Yu-Ting, Chen, Hung-Ing, Tsai, Chung-Yuan, Fang, Chia-Hui, Nee, Tzer-En
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer New York 30.05.2012; BioMed Central Ltd; Springer
• Subjects: Chemistry and Materials Science; Materials Science; Molecular Medicine; Nano Express; Nanochemistry; Nanoscale Science and Technology; Nanotechnology; Nanotechnology and Microengineering; Zinc oxide (ZnO); Nanostructure; Hydrothermal method
• ISSN: 1556-276X; 1931-7573; 1556-276X
• DOI: 10.1186/1556-276X-7-270

In recent years, zinc oxide (ZnO) has become one of the most popular research materials due to its unique properties and various applications. ZnO is an intrinsic semiconductor, with a wide bandgap (3.37 eV) and large exciton binding energy (60 meV) making it suitable for many optical applications. In this experiment, the simple hydrothermal method is used to grow indium-doped ZnO nanostructures on a silicon wafer, which are then annealed at different temperatures (400°C to 1,000°C) in an abundant oxygen atmosphere. This study discusses the surface structure and optical characteristic of ZnO nanomaterials. The structure of the ZnO nanostructures is analyzed by X-ray diffraction, the superficial state by scanning electron microscopy, and the optical measurements which are carried out using the temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) spectra. In this study, we discuss the broad peak energy of the yellow-orange emission which shows tendency towards a blueshift with the temperature increase in the PL spectra. This differs from other common semiconductors which have an increase in their peak energy of deep-level emission along with measurement temperature.