Photoluminescence studies in sol–gel derived Zno films

The photoluminescence (PL) properties of high quality ZnO thin films grown on Si (1 0 0) substrates using spin coating technique are investigated as a function of temperature in the range 10–300 K. The PL spectra shows dominant donor bound excitonic emission along with free exciton related emission in the UV region. The corresponding activation energy of thermal quenching is found to be image. The parameters that describe the temperature dependent red shift of the band-edge transition energy are evaluated using different models. The broadening of the PL peak due to increase in temperature is mainly attributed to the exciton–LO phonon coupling.