Emission characteristics of electrically- and optically-pumped single ZnO micro-spherical crystal

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nano/microstructures have been attractive as the building blocks for the efficient opto-electronic devices in the ultraviolet (UV) region. We have succeeded in growing the ZnO micro/nanosphere by a simple laser ablation in the air, and therefore we have obtained UV lasing from the sphere under optical pumping. Recently, large size of several 10 micrometer ZnO microspheres were grown using Nd:YAG laser without Q-switching, and ZnO microsphere/p-GaN heterojunction were fabricated to obtain the electroluminescence (EL) from the microsphere by electrical pumping. Room-temperature EL in near-UV region with peak wavelength of 400 nm is observed under forward bias.