Band tail-induced photoluminescence broadening in heavily In-doped n-type ZnO nanowires

Abstract

We have demonstrated that photoluminescence (PL) is a non-damaging and powerful tool for the characterization of heavily-doped semiconductor nanostructures such as n-ZnO nanowires. The PL shows a redshift and a Gaussian-shaped low-energy wing, indicating a broadening mechanism governed by the impurity band. The electron concentration can be estimated from the PL linewidth.