X-ray studies on optical and structural properties of ZnO nanostructured thin films

X-ray absorption near-edge fine structure (XANES) studies have been carried out on nanostructured ZnO thin films prepared by atmospheric pressure chemical vapour deposition (APCVD).Films have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and optical luminescence spectroscopy exciting with laser light (PL) or X-ray (XEOL).According to XRD measurements, all the APCVD samples reveal a highly (002) oriented crystalline structure.The samples have different thickness (less than 1 μm) and show significant shifts of the PL and XEOL bands in the visible region.Zn K-edge XANES spectra were recorded using synchrotron radiation at BM08 of ESRF (France), by detecting photoluminescence yield (PLY) and X-ray fluorescence yield (FLY).The differences between the PLY- and FLY-XANES confirm the possibility of studying the local environment in the luminescence centres and to correlate the structural and optical properties of ZnO nanostructured samples.