Depth resolved luminescence from oriented ZnO nanowires

Abstract

We have utilized the limited penetration depth of x-rays to study the near-surface properties of vertically aligned ZnO nanowires. For an energy of 600 eV the penetration depth varies between 3 and 132 nm as the incidence angle changes from 2° to 33°. Thus, by obtaining optical luminescence spectra as a function of incidence angle, it is possible to probe the near-surface region with nanometer-scale resolution. We will present angle dependent optical luminescence data from oriented ZnO nanowires. By fitting the results to a simple model, we extract a depth for the surface defect regions of ~14 nm.