Growth-induced stacking faults of ZnO nanorods probed by spatial resolved cathodoluminescence

Low density ZnO nanorods are grown by modified chemical vapor deposition on silicon substrates using gold as a catalyst. We use high resolution photoluminescence spectroscopy to gain the optical properties of these nanorods in large scale. The as-grown samples show sharp near-band-gap luminescence with a full width at half maximum of bound exciton peaks at about 300 mu eV, and the ratio of ultraviolet/yellow luminescence larger than 100. Highly spatial and spectral resolved scanning electron microscope-cathodoluminescence is performed to excite the ZnO nanorods in single rods or different positions of single rods with the vapour-solid growth mechanism. The bottom of the nanorod has a 3.31-eV luminescence, which indicates that basal plane stacking faults are related to the defects that are created at the first stage of growth due to the misfit between ZnO and Si.