Intrinsic exciton transitions in high-quality ZnO thin films grown by plasma-enhanced molecular-beam epitaxy on sapphire substrates

High-quality ZnO thin films have been grown by plasma-enhanced molecular-beam epitaxy on sapphire substrates. Free-exciton absorption and exciton-LO phonon absorption peaks are observed in the films at room temperature, indicating that the exciton states are stable even at room temperature. Three excitonic transitions associated with valence bands A, B, and C are clearly revealed in the reflectance spectrum measured at low temperatures. This result indicates that the ZnO thin films have a perfect wurtzite crystal structure. Biexciton emission is observed in the photoluminescence spectra at low temperatures, from which the biexciton binding energy is estimated to be 14.5 meV, in good agreement with previous results. Exciton-LO (Ex-LO) and exciton-2LO (Ex-2LO) photon emission peaks are observed at low temperature. The energy difference between the Ex-LO and Ex-2LO bands is about 72.5 meV, which coincides with previously reported values of the LO phonon energy for ZnO thin films. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.