Fourier transform infra-red absorption and photoluminescence spectroscopy were used to investigate the defects in a co-doped ZnO:Al:N film grown onto a Si (111) substrate. Two broad vibrational modes around 3000 and 3120/cm were found, which could be attributed to the formation of N–H bonds in different configurations. The room-temperature photoluminescence spectrum of the ZnO:Al:N film exhibited 2 dominant emissions centered at 3.04 and 2.77eV. Photoluminescence decay and X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy results suggested that the 3.04eV emission was probably not due to the Zn vacancy. It was assumed that it might be related to the N-related defect. The 2.77eV emission was tentatively attributed to recombination which involved an unknown deep localized defect.

Defect-Related Vibrational and Photoluminescence Spectroscopy of a Co-Doped ZnO:Al:N Film. H.He, F.Zhuge, Z.Ye, L.Zhu, B.Zhao, J.Huang: Journal of Physics D, 2006, 39, 2339-42