Vol. 43, Issue 1, pp. 187-194 (2013)

Abstract

We performed cathodoluminescence (CL) investigations of zinc oxide monolayers obtained by atomic layer deposition. Layers of different thickness were deposited on commercial GaN/sapphire templates. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) system equipped with CL allows direct comparison of SEM images and CL maps, taken from exactly the same areas of samples. In addition to SEM and CL images, CL profiling was performed by collecting the CL spectra at different accelerating voltages. The CL profiling allows to distinguish the emissions from a surface and volume of samples. An inter-link between samples microstructure and emission properties is investigated. Shifts of emission bands, associated by us with the localization effects, are observed. CL investigations are supported by photoluminescence (PL) measurements, which are characterized by a higher spectral resolution. PL investigations allow determination of the origin of emission bands.