Luminescent behavior of pulsed laser deposited Pr doped ZnO thin films

Abstract Highly c-axis oriented, single-phase praseodymium doped ZnO (PZO) thin films were pulsed laser deposited on c-Al2O3 substrate under different oxygen pressure conditions. Photoluminescence spectra revealed the presence of intense band-edge emission, low intensity defect related emission in the Jacobian transformed wavelength to energy plots in the UV–visible region. The presence of a distinct peak at 2.79 eV correlates with the emission from Pr3+ ions, ensuring energy transfer between the host and Pr3+ ions under indirect excitation. Different narrow line width, intra- 4 f n -shell transitions of Pr3+ ions from 3P0, 3P1 and 1D2 energy states were observed under direct excitation and found to depend on the ambient oxygen pressure maintained during deposition. All the PZO thin films were found to be ~90% transparent in the region between 400 and 800 nm. X-ray photoelectron emission studies of these films ensured the occurrence of Pr as Pr3+ ions in the ZnO matrix.