ZnO-based semiconductors studied by Raman spectroscopy

In the past years, the scientific interest in ZnO was renewed because improved processing and better theoretical understanding raised hope for various new applications, for instance in opto- electronics, spintronics, and nanotechnology. The manipulation of ZnO material properties by the incorporation of impurities (e.g. dop- ing, magnetic alloying) or by miniaturization (e.g. nanostructures) strongly affects the crystal structure of ZnO and therewith its vibrational properties. In this work, ZnO-based semiconductors are studied by Raman spectroscopy and complementary methods (e.g. XRD, EPS) with focus on semimagnetic alloying with transition metal ions (V, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni), doping (especially p-type doping with nitrogen as acceptor), and nanostructures (especially wet-chemically synthesized nanoparticles).