ZnO/Zn phosphor thin films prepared by IBED

ZnO/Zn phosphor thin films were prepared by ion-beam-enhanced deposition (IBED). Post-deposition annealing of these films was performed at temperatures from 100 to 1000°C in a N2 atmosphere. RBS, XRD and PL spectra were employed to characterize these films. It was detected that there is a large amount of excess Zn in the prepared films. An amorphous structure was found in the films deposited without ion bombardment, and simultaneous ion bombardment could cause the films to contain crystalline phases and even greater excess Zn. The PL spectra showed that UV/violet and blue/green luminescence was excited in ZnO/Zn films. The annealing strongly affected the visible luminescence. Possible reasons may include the recovery of structural defects, homogenization, and evaporation of excess Zn with different contributions at different temperature ranges.