Abstraction of Blue Photoluminescence in Al-Doped ZnO Nanoparticles Prepared by Electron Beam Deposition

Abstract

Al-doped ZnO nanoparticles with photoluminescence (PL) centered at blue were fabricated through electron beam deposition of Al 2O x and ZnO films on amorphous SiO x surface and annealing in oxygen at different temperatures. The luminescence at near-band-edge (NBE) and deep levels was suppressed by a homogeneous mix of ZnO and Al 2O x . The center peak of 420nm was shifted to 441nm in the sample with the nanoparticle size of 10 nm, the characteristics of which were not changed by the oxygen annealing temperature. The decay of PL in Al-doped nanoparticles obeyed a single exponential function and the estimated lifetime was 3.3 ms. © 2012 The Japan Society of Applied Physics.