Influence of Annealing and Europium-Doping on the Structure and Optical Properties of ZnO Thin Films Grown on Quartz Substrate by Magnetron Sputtering

Abstract:

ZnO and Eu-doped ZnO thin films were deposited on quartz substrates by reactive radio-frequency magnetron sputtering from a ZnO and Eu-doped ZnO ceramic target respectively. The properties of thin films were characterized by atom force microscope (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and photoluminescence spectra (PL). XRD reveals that the prepared thin films possess a single crystalline hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure with preferential c-axis orientation. Under above-bandgap excitation at room temperature, PL shows that ZnO films exhibit strong UV near-band-edge excitonic emission and Eu-doped ZnO thin films present UV emission and red emission from Eu³⁺ ions, demonstrating efficient energy transfer from the host to Eu³⁺ ions. The influence of annealing on the structure and optical properties of ZnO and Eu-doped ZnO thin films is studied. The efficient energy transfer from the host to Eu³⁺ and high luminous efficiency indicates that the prepared Eu-doped ZnO thin films are very promising materials for lighting and flat panel display application.

• Periodical: Materials Science Forum (Volume 687)
• Pages: 667-672
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.687.667
• Online since: June 2011
• Authors: Q. Q. Dai, L. Luo, F. Y. Huang, D. P. Xiong, X.G. Tang, J. Chen
• Keywords: Eu³⁺-Doped, Photoluminescence (PL), Reactive Radio-Frequency Magnetron Sputtering, ZnO Thin Film

References

[1] L.R. Singh, R.S. Ningthoujam, V. Sudarsan, S.D. Singh and S.K. Kulshreshtha: J. Lumin. Vol. 128 (2008), p.1544.

[2] Z.K. Tang, F.K.L. Wong and P. Yu: Appl. Phys. Lett. Vol. 72 (1998), p.3270.

[3] X.P. Peng, W. Lan, Y.S. Tan, Li.G. Tong and Y.Y. Wang: Acta. Phys. Sin. Vol. 53 (2004), p.2705(in Chinese).

[4] G. Yang and S. Paulo: Acta. Phys. Sin. Vol. 56 (2007), p.3515(in Chinese).

[5] W.Y. Jia, K. Monge and F. Fernandez: Opt. Mater. Vol. 23 (2003), p.27.

[6] X.Q. Gu, L.P. Zhu, Z.Z. Ye, H.P. He, Y.Z. Zhang and B.H. Zhao: Thin. Solid. Films Vol. 517 (2009), p.5134.

[7] X.S. Xin, B. Bin. Zhou, S.C. Lü and W.H. Su: Acta. Phys. Sin. Vol. 54 (2005), p.1859(in Chinese).

[8] P. Che, J. Meng, L.R. Ren and L. Guo: J. Rare. Earths Vol. 24 (2006), p.298.

[9] T.H. Fang, Y.S. Chang, L.W. Ji, S.D. Prior, W. Water, K.J. Chen, C.F. Fang, C.N. Fang and S.T. Shen: J. Phys. Chem. Solids Vol. 70 (2009), p.1015.

[10] M.L. Wang, C.G. Huang, Z. Huang, W. Guo, J.Q. Huang, H. He, H. Wang, Y.G. Cao, Q.L. Liu and J.K. Liang: Opt. Mater. Vol. 31(2009), p.1502.

[11] C.C. Yang, S.Y. Cheng, H.Y. Lee and S.Y. Chen: Ceram. Int. Vol. 32 (2006), p.37.