The physical effects of H-plasma treatment on ZnO thin film have been studied using photoluminescence(PL) spectroscopy. Four characteristic peaks have been identified: (i) D0X peak (neutral donor-bound exciton), showing relatively small integrated intensity after H-plasma treatment, indicates that H-plasma passivates the neutral donors in ZnO at low temperatures. The rapid decrease in the integrated intensity of the peak as the temperature goes up is considered to be due to the ionization of neutral donors. (ii) H-related complex-bound exciton peak appears at the low temperatures (10 K∼80 K)after H-plasma treatment, showing the same thermal evolution as D0X peak. (iii) FX (free exciton) peak starts to show up at 60 K and grows more and more as the temperature goes up, which is considered to be related to the increase in free electron concentration in the film. (iv) violet band is intensified after H-plasma, which means more defects and impurities are generated by H-plasma process.
