Random lasing of ZnO thin films grown by pulsed-laser deposition

Low-dimensional semiconductor structures on nanometer scale are of great interest because of their strong potential applications in nanotechnologies. We report here optical and structural properties on UV lasing in ZnO thin films. The ZnO films, 110 nm thick, were prepared using pulsed-laser deposition on c-cut sapphire substrates at 500 °C under 10−2 oxygen pressure. The ZnO films are nearly stoichiometric, dense and display the wurtzite phase. The films are highly textured along the ZnO c-axis and are constituted of nanocrystallites. According to Hall measurements these films are conductive (0.11 Ω cm). Photoluminescence measurements reveals a so-called random lasing in the range 390 to 410 nm, when illuminating at 355 nm with a tripled frequency pulsed Nd-YAG laser. Such random lasing is obtained at rather low optical pumping, 45 kW cm−2, a value lower than those classically reported for pulsed-laser deposition thin films.