Origin of the 2.45eV luminescence band observed in ZnO epitaxial layers grown on c-plane sapphire by chemical vapour deposition

Zinc oxide epitaxial layers have been grown on c-plane sapphire substrates by the chemical vapour deposition (CVD) technique. A structural study shows (0001)-oriented films with good crystalline quality. The temperature and excitation power dependence of the photoluminescence (PL) characteristics of these layers is studied as a function of various growth parameters, such as the growth temperature, oxygen flow rate and Zn flux, which suggest that the origin of the broad visible luminescence (VL), which peaks at 2.45 eV, is the transition between the conduction band and the Zn vacancy acceptor states. A bound excitonic transition observed at 3.32 eV in low temperature PL has been identified as an exciton bound to the neutral Zn vacancy. Our study also reveals the involvement of two activation processes in the dynamics of VL, which has been explained in terms of the fluctuation of the capture barrier height for the holes trapped in Zn vacancy acceptors. The fluctuation, which might be a result of the inhomogeneous distribution of Zn vacancies, is found to be associated with an average height of 7 and 90 meV, respectively, for the local and global maxima.