Structural and photoluminescence properties of Gd implanted ZnO single crystals

We present the structural and photoluminescence properties of 30 keV gadolinium implanted and subsequently annealed zinc oxide (ZnO) single crystals. Rutherford backscattering and channeling results reveal a low surface region defect density which was reduced further upon annealing. For low implantation fluence, around 85% of the Gd atoms are estimated to be in sites aligned with the ZnO lattice, while for higher fluences the Gd is largely disordered and likely forms precipitates. The Raman spectra of the implanted samples show defect-induced modes, which match the one-phonon density of states for the most heavily implanted samples. Annealing eliminates these features implying the removal of Gd-associated lattice disorder. Low temperature photoluminescence spectra revealed a red-shift in the defect emission, from green to orange/yellow, indicating the suppression of a deep level, which is thought to be due to oxygen vacancies. It is suggested that the orange/yellow emission is unmasked when the green emission is quenched by the presence of the implanted Gd atoms. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3619852]