Optical active centres in ZnO samples

Abstract In recent years, there has been a resurgence in the interest in the use of ZnO (Eg ∼ 3.37 eV) as a material for a wide range of opto-emitter applications spanning visible and short wavelengths. Bulk, thin films and nanomaterials obtained using different synthesis methods have been investigated for optoelectronic and biotechnological device applications. Nominally undoped bulk samples typically present a myriad-structured near-band-edge recombination, mainly due to free/bound excitons and donor–acceptor pair transitions. Furthermore, deep level emission due to intrinsic defects and extrinsic impurities, such as transition metal ions, are commonly observed in different grades of bulk…