Low-Temperature Cathodoluminescence Investigations of High-Quality Zinc Oxide Nanorods

Abstract We present results of cathodoluminescence (CL) investigations of high-quality zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods obtained by an extremely fast hydrothermal method on a silicon substrate. A scanning electron microscopy (SEM) system equipped with CL allows direct comparison of SEM images and CL maps, taken from exactly the same areas of samples. Investigations are performed at a temperature of 5 K. An interlink between sample microstructure and emission properties is investigated. CL confirms a very high quality of ZnO nanorods produced by our method. In addition, the presence of super radiation effects in ZnO nanorod arrays is suggested.