UV light emission from ZnO nanostructures in SiO$_{2}$ synthesized by ion implantation and thermal annealing

Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nanostructures were synthesized by the implantation of low energy (35 keV) ZnO molecular ions into thermally grown SiO$_{2}$ at a fluence of 5 $\times $ 10$^{16}$ ions/cm$^{2}$. Implanted samples were annealed in an oxygen environment to allow the growth of ZnO precipitates. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform spectroscopy (FTIR) and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS), confirm the formation of ZnO. High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) shows the formation of nanostructures having diameters ranging from 2 nm to 5 nm in the SiO$_{2}$. Photoluminescence (PL) measurements show excitonic and band-edge emission in the ultraviolet region at temperatures ranging from 4 K - 300 K. Time-resolved PL measurements performed at 4K showed an electron-hole recombination lifetime on the order of a few hundred picoseconds.