Photoluminescence and Raman properties of Sb-doped ZnO thin film

Sb-doped ZnO thin films with various impurity content values are deposited on glass substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering medthods. The influences of Sb doping content on the microstructural, photoluminescence and Raman properties of ZnO film are systematically investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission spectrum, photoluminescence (PL) spectrum and Raman scattering spectrum. The results indicate that ZnO thin film doped with Sb exhibits a hexagonal wurtzite structure with preferred c-axis orientation; The vibrational mode at 532 cm-1 induced by Sb dopant can be observed in the Raman spectrum of the Sb-doped ZnO thin film, which can be attributed to local vibrational mode (LVMSb-O) that are formed by substituting Sb for Zn substitution and bonding O in ZnO lattice. The strong violet emission peak located at 3.11 eV is observed only in Sb-doped ZnO thin film by photoluminescence. Conbining the Raman scattering spectrum with photoluminescence, it is concluded that the strong violet emission peak is relation to SbZn-O complex defect in ZnO:Sb film. © 2012 Chinese Physical Society.