Strong Blue Photoemission from Au/ZnO Nanocomposite Material

Several layers of Au (5 nm) and ZnO (20 nm) were alternatively deposited on Si and SiO$_{2}$ substrates with an electron beam evaporator. With post-annealing of the samples in air, the samples were characterized with XRD, RBS, SEM, AFM, and PL. The samples annealed at higher temperatures (\underline {$>$}700$^{o}$C) exhibit the growth of ZnO nanocrystals in the system. Along with these observations, the samples annealed at higher temperatures emit strong blue photons due to an electric field.