Fabrication and photoluminescence characteristics of In₂O₃ nanohillocks

Uniformly distributed polycrystalline indium nanohillocks are synthesized on silicon substrates with Au catalyst by using the radio frequency magnetic sputtering technique. The results show that the Au catalyst plays a key role in the formation of indium nanohillocks. After thermally oxidizing the indium nanohillocks at 500 ℃ in air for 5 h, the indium nanohillocks totally transform into In₂O₃ nanohillocks. The energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy result indicates that many oxygen vacancies and oxygen-indium vacancy pairs exist in the In₂O₃ nanohillocks. Photoluminescence spectra under an Ne laser excitation at 280 nm show broad emissions at 420 nm and 470 nm with a shoulder at 450 nm related to oxygen vacancies and oxygen-indium vacancies at room temperature.