Transmittance, Absorbance and Emission of Ga related Defects in Ga-doped ZnO Nanocrystal Films

ZnO films grown by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis with different Ga contents in the range of 1.0-6.5 at% on quartz substrates have been studied. The ZnO:Ga films were annealed at 400°C for 4h in a nitrogen flow. Morphology, emission, transmittance, absorbance and electrical resistivity were controlled. It is revealed that with a small content of Ga ≤ 4.0 at%, the ZnO:Ga films maintain a flat morphology, their transmittance increases to 86% together with the increase of the ZnO optical bandgap to 3.28 eV and the intensity enlargement of the near band edge (NBE) emission band A (3.188 eV). Furthermore, the new NBE emission band B (3.072 eV) appears in photoluminescence (PL) spectra at Ga contents ≥ 1.5 at%. Simultaneously, the process of decreasing electrical resistivity becomes saturating. The last effect is attributed to the self-compensation effect in n-type ZnO:Ga films related to the generation of acceptor type complexes (VZn2- - GaZn+). The thermal quenching of the PL intensities of the A and B PL bands is studded at 18-290K, which allows assigning the PL band A to the LO-phonon replica of the free exciton emission and the band B to the emission in donor-acceptor pairs: shallow donors - acceptor complexes (VZn2- - GaZn+). The NBE emission intensity drops and the ZnO optical bandgap demonstrates the shift to a lower energy at Ga doping up to ≤ 6.5 at%. Optimal Ga concentrations have been estimated to produce ZnO:Ga films with flat morphology, high optical transmittance and bright NBE emission.

Экситон-фононное стимулированное излучение в кристаллической пленке ZnO при комнатной температуре

The near-edge luminescence of zinc oxide epitaxial film grown by molecular-beam epitaxy on a sapphire substrate was studied. Under an optical excitation increase at room temperature, the luminescence spectrum changes radically and a new band appears with a maximum of ~ 3.17 eV. It has features of stimulated emission i.e. a threshold of nonlinear growth and narrowing of the half-width. Using the model of a one-dimensional amplifier and experimental data, the gain spectrum was calculated, with maximal value being 170 cm– 1. The analysis of theoretical approaches for calculating the Mott concentration is carried out. For the first time it is shown that nearby the threshold intensity the observed stimulated emission is originated from the second phonon replica of the exciton.

Author Correction: Emerging photoluminescence from the dark-exciton phonon replica in monolayer WSe2

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Room-temperature excitonic emission with a phonon replica from graphene nanosheets deposited on Ni-nanocrystallites/Si-nanoporous pillar array

Graphene nanosheets (GNSs) were grown on a Si nanoporous pillar array (Si-NPA) via chemical vapour deposition, using a thin layer of pre-deposited Ni nanocrystallites as catalyst. GNSs were determined to be of high quality and good dispersivity, with a typical diameter size of 15 × 8 nm. Light absorption measurements showed that GNSs had an absorption band edge at 3.3 eV. They also showed sharp and regular excitonic emitting peaks in the ultraviolet and visible region (2.06–3.6 eV). Moreover, phonon replicas with long-term stability appeared with the excitonic peaks at room temperature. Temperature-dependent photoluminescence from the GNSs revealed that the excitonic emission derived from free and bound excitonic recombination. A physical model based on band energy theory was constructed to analyse the carrier transport of GNSs. The Ni nanocrystallites on Si-NPA, which acted as a metal-enhanced fluorescence substrate, were supposed to accelerate the excitonic recombination of GNSs and enhanced the measured emission intensity. Results of this study would be valuable in determining the luminescence mechanism of GNSs and could be applied in real-world optoelectronic devices.

Identification of Defect Levels in Copper Indium Diselenide (CuInSe2) Thin Films via Photoluminescence Studies

Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy has been used to study the defect levels in thin film copper indium diselenide (CuInSe2, CIS) which we are developing as the absorber layer for the bottom cell of a monolithically grown perovskite/CuInSe2 tandem solar cell. Temperature and laser power dependent PL measurements of thin film CIS for two different Cu/In ratios (0.66 and 0.80) have been performed. The CIS film with Cu/In = 0.80 shows a prominent donor-to-acceptor peak (DAP) involving a shallow acceptor of binding energy ∼22 meV, with phonon replica at ∼32 meV spacing. In contrast, PL measurement of CIS film for Cu/In = 0.66 taken at 20 K exhibited an asymmetric and broad PL spectrum with peaks at 0.845 eV and 0.787 eV. Laser intensity dependent PL revealed that the observed peaks 0.845 eV and 0.787 eV shift towards higher energy (aka j-shift) at ∼11.7 meV/decade and ∼ 8 meV/decade with increase in laser intensity respectively. The asymmetric and broad spectrum together with large j-shift suggests that the observed peaks at 0.845 eV and 0.787 eV were related to band-to-tail (BT) and band-to-impurity (BI) transition, respectively. Such a band-tail-related transition originates from the potential fluctuation of defect states at low temperature. The appearance of band related transition in CIS film with Cu/In = 0.66 is the indicator of the presence of large number of charged defect states.

Emission Diversity of ZnO Nanocrystals with Different Growth Temperatures

ABSTRACTScanning electronic microscopy (SEM), X ray diffraction (XRD) and photoluminescence (PL) have been applied to the study of structural and optical properties of ZnO nanocrystals prepared by the ultrasonic spray pyrolysis (USP) at different temperatures. The variation of temperatures and times at the growth of ZnO films permits modifying the ZnO phase from the amorphous to crystalline, to change the size of ZnO nanocrystals (NCs), as well as to vary their photoluminescence spectra. The study has revealed three types of PL bands in ZnO NCs: defect related emission, the near-band-edge (NBE) PL, related to the LO phonon replica of free exciton (FE) recombination, and its second-order diffraction peaks. The PL bands, related to the LO phonon replica of FE, and its second-order diffraction in the room temperature Pl spectrum testify on the high quality of ZnO films prepared by the USP technology.

Low-temperature Photoluminescence Studies of CdTe Thin Films Deposited on CdS/ZnO/Glass Substrates

ABSTRACTThe CdTe photoluminescence spectra of CdTe/CdS/ZnO heterojunctions annealed in the presence of CdCl2 have been analyzed in the 4.7-100K temperature range. The analysis has been performed for laser excitation power between 0.01 mW and 30 mW. The analysis showed that the photoluminescence spectrum in the 1.1-1.6 eV region consists of a defect band (1.437 eV) having complex structure and revealing well contoured LO phonon replicas and bound exciton annihilation in the 1.587-1.593 eV region. The band analysis has been carried out by deconvoluting the spectra. It has been shown that the defect band consists of two elementary bands and their phonon replica. An “unusual” temperature dependence of the defect band has been found.

STUDIES ON UV PHOTOLUMINESCENCE FROM PULSED LASER DEPOSITED ENSEMBLES OF CAPPED SILICON NANOPARTICLES

Multilayer ensembles of alumina capped, widely dispersed silicon nanoparticles ( Si -nps) with mean diameter in the range of about 1–4 nm were grown using pulsed laser deposition. With photo-excitation at ~3.82 eV, photoluminescence (PL) was found to emanate from these Si -nps mainly in the UV spectral region centered at about 3.37 eV due to the Γ25–Γ15 transitions. It was found that while the bandgap measured from photoabsorption spectra showed blueshift with decreasing mean size of the Si -nps, spectral position of the PL peaks remained almost insensitive to variation in the mean size. The PL peak at about 3.37 eV was observed to vanish at temperatures higher than 70 K and another one at about 3.31 eV attributed to the TO phonon replica disappeared above 100 K. In general FWHM of both these PL peaks was found to increase monotonically from about 6 to 19 meV and the peak positions were found to undergo redshift with increase in the sample temperature from 10 to 100 K. These observations could be explained by applying Bose statistics for a 6 meV confined phonon mode broadening of the Si -nps and using the Varshni equation, respectively. Si -nps grown in oxygen ambient at 600°C showed significant enhancement in the PL intensity with increasing pressure. These findings elicit that light emission from Si -nps is either due to the nanoparticles of about 1 nm and smaller size primarily driven by the quantum confinement or due to an interface state pumped by these Si -nps.