Structural and optical characterisations of nitrogen doped ZnO nanowires grown by MOCVD

ZnO nanowires with different nitrogen concentrations were grown by metalorganic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) using DEZn, NO2 and NH3 as zinc, oxygen and nitrogen doping sources respectively. The NH3 concentration in the vapour phase varied from 0 to 13.8 μmol min−1 to favour the nitrogen incorporation. The ZnO nanowires were characterised by scanning electron microscopy, photoluminescence and micro-Raman spectroscopy. Two additional intense Raman peaks at 272 and 580 cm−1 are found to be related to the nitrogen incorporation. Micro-Raman scattering of a single nanowire probes the uniformity of the nitrogen concentration along the nanowire for highly doped samples. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra exhibit donor–acceptor pair band which confirms the incorporation of the nitrogen in the ZnO nanowires.