Title: Optical Properties of ZnO-Alloyed Nanocrystalline Films

Abstract

ZnO is emerging as one of the materials of choice for UV applications. It has a deep excitonic energy level and a direct bandgap of ~3.4 eV. Alloying ZnO with certain atomic constituents adds new optical and electronic functionalities to ZnO. This paper presents research on $\text{M}{\text{g}}_x\text{Z}{\text{n}}_{1-x}\text{O}$ and $\text{Z}\text{n}{\text{S}}_{1-x}{\text{O}}_x$ nanocrystalline flexible films, which enable tunable optical properties in the deep-UV and in the visible range. The ZnO and ${\text{Mg}}_{\text{0}\text{.3}}{\text{Zn}}_{\text{0}\text{.7}}\text{O}$ films were found to have bandgaps at 3.35 and 4.02 eV, respectively. The photoluminescence of the ${\text{Mg}}_{\text{0}\text{.3}}{\text{Zn}}_{\text{0}\text{.7}}\text{O}$ exhibited a bandedge emission at 3.95 eV, and at lower energy 3.38 eV due to the limited solubility inherent to these alloys. ${\text{ZnS}}_{\text{0}\text{.76}}{\text{O}}_{\text{0}\text{.24}}$ and ${\text{ZnS}}_{\text{0}\text{.16}}{\text{O}}_{\text{0}\text{.84}}$ were found to have bandgaps at 3.21 and 2.65 eV, respectively. The effect of nitrogen doping on ${\text{ZnS}}_{\text{0}\text{.16}}{\text{O}}_{\text{0}\text{.84}}$ is discussed in terms of the highly lattice mismatched nature of these alloys and the resulting valence-band modification.

Authors:

Che, Hui ^[1]; Huso, Jesse ^[1]; Morrison, John L. ^[1]; Thapa, Dinesh ^[1]; Huso, Michelle ^[1]; Yeh, Wei Jiang ^[1]; Tarun, M. C. ^[2]; McCluskey, M. D. ^[2]; Bergman, Leah ^[1]

---

+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Department of Physics, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844-0903, USA
2. Department of Physics and Materials Science, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-2814, USA

Publication Date:

Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2012

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE

OSTI Identifier:

1198255

Grant/Contract Number:  

FG02-07ER46386

Resource Type:

Published Article

Journal Name:

Journal of Nanomaterials

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Name: Journal of Nanomaterials Journal Volume: 2012; Journal ID: ISSN 1687-4110

Publisher:

Hindawi Publishing Corporation

Country of Publication:

Egypt

Language:

English