We succeeded in synthesizing antimony (Sb)-doped ZnO microspheres by ablating a ZnO sintered target containing 5 wt% of Sb with a Nd:YAG laser at a fluence of 25 J/cm² in air. The well-spherical ZnO microcrystals with diameters of 1-20 μm were collected on a substrate which was put near the ablation spot. Most of the ZnO microspheres have a crystalline structure. In addition, Raman peak of the Sb-doped ZnO microspheres was shifted toward lower frequency side, indicating substitutional Sb³⁺ at Zn antisite. Room-temperature photoluminescence properties of the microsphere were investigated under 325 nm He-Cd laser or 355 nm Nd:YAG laser excitation. An ultraviolet (UV) emission and lasing in whispering gallery mode were observed from the photoexcited microsphere.

Date Published: 4 March 2015
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 9350, Laser Applications in Microelectronic and Optoelectronic Manufacturing (LAMOM) XX, 93501L (4 March 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2180460

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9350:
Laser Applications in Microelectronic and Optoelectronic Manufacturing (LAMOM) XX
Stephan Roth; Yoshiki Nakata; Beat Neuenschwander; Xianfan Xu, Editor(s)