Marco Peres

Synthesis, surface modification and optical properties of Tb3+-doped ZnO nanocrystals

We report the synthesis and characterization of colloidal nanocrystals consisting of ZnO doped with Tb3+ cations. Introducing the Tb3+ cations in ZnO nanosized hosts led to photoluminescent systems whose wavelength emission depends on the excitation line. Chemical surface modification of the doped ZnO nanocrystals associated with photoluminescence studies allows us to conclude that Tb3+ cations are located in the ZnO core.

Near-band-edge slow luminescence in nominally undoped bulk ZnO

We report the observation of slow emission bands overlapped with the near-band-edge steady-state luminescence of nominally undoped ZnO crystals. At low temperatures the time-resolved spectra are dominated by the emission of several high-energy bound exciton lines and the two-electron satellite spectral region. Furthermore, two donor-acceptor pair transitions at 3.22 and 3.238eV are clearly identified in temperature-dependent time-resolved spectroscopy. These donor-acceptor pairs involve a common shallow donor at 67meV and deep acceptor levels at 250 and 232meV.

Up conversion from visible to ultraviolet in bulk ZnO implanted with Tm ions

We report on the up-converted ultraviolet near-band edge emission of bulk ZnO generated by visible and ultraviolet photons with energies below the band gap. This up-converted photoluminescence was observed in samples intentionally doped with Tm ions, suggesting that the energy levels introduced by the rare earth ion in the ZnO band gap are responsible for this process.

A green-emitting CdSe/Poly(butyl acrylate) nanocomposite

CdSe/poly(butyl acrylate) nanocomposites were synthesized by in situ miniemulsion polymerization. The hybrid nanomaterial is very stable and presents a bright green photoluminescence at 2.29 eV under ultraviolet excitation. With the excitation conditions used the intensity of the emission band keeps nearly constant from 7 K to room temperature. The morphological, structural and room temperature electrical properties of the CdSe/poly(butyl acrylate) nanocomposite have been investigated.

Structural and optical properties of Er3+ ion in sol?gel grown LiNbO3

Er-doped lithium niobate (LiNbO3) ceramics embedded in silica were grown by the sol–gel method. The dried gel 91SiO2–4Li2O–4Nb2O5–Er2O3 (mol%) was subsequently heat treated between 500 and 750 ◦ C. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy have detected the crystallization of LiNbO3 and ErNbO4 in samples treated at temperatures above 600 ◦ C. At least two Er-related optical centres have been identified by low-temperature optical absorption and photoluminescence studies. The dominant intra-ionic transition arises from the Er 3+ ion, in C2v site symmetry, in the ErNbO4 lattice.

The role of edge dislocations on the red luminescence of ZnO films deposited by RF-sputtering

The existence of extended defects (i.e., dislocations) in inorganic semiconductors, such as GaN or ZnO, responsible for broad emission peaks in photoluminescence analysis remains unresolved. The possible assignments of these luminescence bands are still matter of discussion. In this study, two different zinc oxide samples, grown under different oxygen partial pressures and substrate temperatures, are presented. Epitaxial and structural properties were analysed by means of X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy techniques. They confirm that the layers are single-phase with a good crystalline quality. Nevertheless, a different density of threading dislocations, with a higher contribution of edge dislocations, was found. Photoluminescence spectroscopy has been used to investigate the optical properties. The steady state luminescence spectra performed at 14K evidenced the donor bound exciton recombination and deep green and red emission bands. The red band with a maximum at 1.78 eV was found to be stronger in the sample grown at lower oxygen pressure which also shows higher density of threading dislocations. From the temperature and excitation density dependence of the red band, a donor acceptor pair recombination model was proposed, where hydrogen and zinc vacancies are strong candidates for the donor and acceptor species, respectively.

Layer-by-Layer Deposition of Organically Capped Quantum Dots

Cadmium chalcogenide quantum dots (QD’s) were synthesised using a single source approach while zinc oxide QD’s were obtained by a colloidal technique. In both situations the dots were surface capped with tri-octylphosphine oxide (TOPO) hence leading to nanodispersed systems in organic solvents such as toluene. The organically capped QD’s (CdSe, CdS and ZnO) were used as building-units to fabricate LbL (layer-by-layer) films on glass and quartz substrates. A linear increase in the visible light absorbance (due to the QD’s) with the number of deposited layers indicates that multi-layered systems have been fabricated. In order to investigate the effect of the LbL manipulation on the integrity of the QD’s, comparative studies on the optical properties of the starting QD’s and the nanostructured films have been performed. The observation of quantum size effects in both cases suggests minimal degradation of the QD’s though clustering had probably occurred, a point which was further confirmed by AFM analysis.

Effect of Eu-implantation and annealing on the GaN quantum dots excitonic recombination

Undoped self-assembled GaN quantum dots (QD) stacked in superlattices (SL) with AlN spacer layers were submitted to thermal annealing treatments. Changes in the balance between the quantum confinement, strain state of the stacked heterostructures and quantum confined Stark effect lead to the observation of GaN QD excitonic recombination above and below the bulk GaN bandgap. In Eu-implanted SL structures, the GaN QD recombination was found to be dependent on the implantation fluence. For samples implanted with high fluence, a broad emission band at 2.7 eV was tentatively assigned to the emission of large blurred GaN QD present in the damage region of the implanted SL. This emission band is absent in the SL structures implanted with lower fluence and hence lower defect level. In both cases, high energy emission bands at approx. 3.9 eV suggest the presence of smaller dots for which the photoluminescence intensity was seen to be constant with increasing temperatures. Despite the fact that different deexcitation processes occur in undoped and Eu-implanted SL structures, the excitation population mechanisms were seen to be sample-independent. Two main absorption bands with maxima at approx. 4.1 and 4.7 to 4.9 eV are responsible for the population of the optically active centres in the SL samples.

Effect of the Matrix on the 1.5μm Photoluminescence of Er-Doped Silicon Quantum Dots

Erbium doped nanocrystalline silicon thin films were produced by reactive magnetron r.f. sputtering. Their structural and chemical properties were studied by micro-Raman, spectroscopic ellipsometry and Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy. Films with different crystalline fraction and crystallite size were deposited by changing the deposition parameters. The impact of the composition and structure of Erbium ions environment on the 1.5 µm photoluminescence is discussed.