title: Analysis of defect luminescence in Ga-doped ZnO nanoparticles.
abstract: We applied cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopy to evaluate the defect-induced luminescence within ZnO and Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) nanoparticles. The observed emissions from defect sites present in the GZO lattice exhibited a strong dependence on both dopant content and synthesis methods. The strong and broad defect-induced emissions and inhomogeneous population of intrinsic defects in nano-sized ZnO particles could effectively be suppressed by Ga doping, although large dopant amounts caused the generation of negatively-charged defects, VZn and Oi, with a subsequent increase of the luminescence. Upon deconvolution of the retrieved CL spectra into individual sub-bands, the physical origin of all the sub-bands could be clarified, and related to sample composition and synthesis protocol. This study lays the foundation of quantitative CL evaluation of defects to assess the quality of GZO optoelectronic devices.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Engineering for Treatment of Bone and Joint Disorders, Osaka University, 2-2 Yamadaoka, Suita, 565-0854 Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Wenliang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Shoichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kitamura
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boffelli
authors.forename: Elia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Marin
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Della Gaspera
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sturaro
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Martucci
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pezzotti