Oxygen vacancy in Al2O3: Photoluminescence study and first-principle simulation

Broad photoluminescence (PL) band at 2.97 eV excited in the band near 6.0 eV in amorphous chemical vapor deposition films is related to the neutral oxygen vacancy by analogy with crystalline Al2O3. The identification of this PL band was supported by the results of first-principle quantum chemical simulation, which showed 6.3 and 6.4 eV bands in the extinction spectra for α- and γ-Al2O3, respectively. Other PL bands are attributed to ionized single vacancies (F+-centers), divacancies (F2) and, probably, interstitial Al.