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Abstract: ZnO films were prepared by atomic layer deposition upon a SiO2 layer on a Si substrate and treated by rapid thermal annealing. The optically-pumped random lasing actions with low threshold values were observed in the ZnO films on SiO2/Si substrates. With the decrease in ZnO film thickness or the increase in post-annealing duration, the stimulated emission shifted toward the shorter wavelength and the lasing threshold increased. The results can be attributed to the inter-diffusion between ZnO and SiO2, which causes the modification of bandgap renormalization in ZnO. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study demonstrates amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) of the ultraviolet (UV) electroluminescence (EL) from ZnO at lambda~380 nm in the n-ZnO/ZnO nanodots-SiO(2) composite/p- Al(0.12)Ga(0.88)N heterojunction light-emitting diode. A SiO(2) layer embedded with ZnO nanodots was prepared on the p-type Al(0.12)Ga(0.88)N using spin-on coating of SiO(2) nanoparticles followed by atomic layer deposition (ALD) of ZnO. An n-type Al-doped ZnO layer was deposited upon the ZnO nanodots-SiO(2) composite layer also by the ALD technique. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) reveals that the ZnO nanodots embedded in the SiO(2) matrix have diameters of 3-8 nm and the wurtzite crystal structure, which allows the transport of carriers through the thick ZnO nanodots-SiO(2) composite layer. The high quality of the n-ZnO layer was manifested by the well crystallized lattice image in the HRTEM picture and the low-threshold optically pumped stimulated emission. The low refractive index of the ZnO nanodots-SiO(2) composite layer results in the increase in the light extraction efficiency from n-ZnO and the internal optical feedback of UV EL into n-ZnO layer. Consequently, significant enhancement of the UV EL intensity and super-linear increase in the EL intensity, as well as the spectral narrowing, with injection current were observed owing to ASE in the n-ZnO layer.