Self-organized ZnO nanosize islands with low-dimensional characteristics on SiO₂/Si substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

Self-organized ZnO nanosize islands on thermally grown SiO₂ layers on Si (111) with low-dimensional quantum characteristics were realized by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition, Investigation by atomic force microscopy showed that the density and size of the ZnO nanosize islands were changed by the growth conditions. In macroscopic photoluminescence measurements at 10 K using a 325 nm He-Cd laser, we observed the broad spectra with band tails, which were located at the higher energy with respect to band edge emission of ZnO thin films with the free exciton emission located at about 3.38 eV. These results indicate that these ZnO nanosize islands have low-dimensional quantum effect characteristics.