TY - JOUR
T1 - Morphology, structure and emission of Al-doped ZnO nanocrystal films
AU - Torchynska, T. V.
AU - El Filali, B.
AU - Polupan, G.
AU - Shcherbyna, L.
AU - Casas Espinola, J. L.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2018/9/1
Y1 - 2018/9/1
N2 - The morphology, structure and emission of Al-doped ZnO nanocrystals (NCs) with the different Al contents (1–4 at.%) were studied by means of the scanning electronic microscopy, energy dispersive X ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and photoluminescence (PL) methods. Ultrasonic spray pyrolysis was applied to obtain the ZnO:Al films. To stimulate the crystallization, the ZnO:Al films were annealed at 400 °C for 4 h in a constant nitrogen flow (8 L/min). It is shown that the Al incorporation in the ZnO films with the concentrations of 2–4 at.% stimulates: the reduction of ZnO:Al grain sizes, decreasing the film crystallinity owing to disordering the ZnO:Al crystal lattice, the change of the surface morphology and increasing the surface roughness. Meanwhile, Al-doping the ZnO films at the concentrations ≤ 2 at.% enlarge significantly the PL intensity of the near band edge emission. Last fact testifies to quality improving the ZnO:Al films. Simultaneously, the PL intensities of green and orange PL bands, connected with the native defects: VZn and Oi, fall down. The ZnO NC films with Al-doping ≤ 2 at.% still keep the planar surface morphology that is important for their applications in electronic device structures.
AB - The morphology, structure and emission of Al-doped ZnO nanocrystals (NCs) with the different Al contents (1–4 at.%) were studied by means of the scanning electronic microscopy, energy dispersive X ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and photoluminescence (PL) methods. Ultrasonic spray pyrolysis was applied to obtain the ZnO:Al films. To stimulate the crystallization, the ZnO:Al films were annealed at 400 °C for 4 h in a constant nitrogen flow (8 L/min). It is shown that the Al incorporation in the ZnO films with the concentrations of 2–4 at.% stimulates: the reduction of ZnO:Al grain sizes, decreasing the film crystallinity owing to disordering the ZnO:Al crystal lattice, the change of the surface morphology and increasing the surface roughness. Meanwhile, Al-doping the ZnO films at the concentrations ≤ 2 at.% enlarge significantly the PL intensity of the near band edge emission. Last fact testifies to quality improving the ZnO:Al films. Simultaneously, the PL intensities of green and orange PL bands, connected with the native defects: VZn and Oi, fall down. The ZnO NC films with Al-doping ≤ 2 at.% still keep the planar surface morphology that is important for their applications in electronic device structures.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85045479971&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10854-018-9077-1
DO - 10.1007/s10854-018-9077-1
M3 - Artículo
SN - 0957-4522
VL - 29
SP - 15452
EP - 15457
JO - Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics
JF - Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics
IS - 18
ER -