Dependence of the excitonic transition energies and mosaicity on residual strain in ZnO thin films

The mosacity and optical properties of ZnO on (0001) Al2O3 grown by pulsed-laser deposition have been studied by x-ray diffraction and spectroscopic ellipsometry. Strong dependence has been found between the grain size and the residual strain along the c axis, εzz, as well as the film texture. In general, strain relieves and texture improves at larger grain size regardless of the growth conditions. The excitonic transition energies are also found to vary in the presence of strain field. It is observed that the transition energies increase with increasing strain and eventually they are resolved into two well-defined bands at the strain of 1.63%. By taking into account of the biaxial strain, the theoretical band structure of ZnO has been considered by solving the Luttinger–Kohn Hamiltonian. Reasonable agreement is found between the theory and experiment.