We have embarked on a systematic study of novel charge states at oxide interfaces. We have performed pulsed laser deposition (PLD) growth of epitaxial oxide thin films on single crystal oxide substrates. We studied the effects of epitaxial strain and rare-earth composition of the metal oxide thin films. We have successfully created TiO₂ terminated SrTiO₃ (STO) substrates and have grown epitaxial thin films of LaAlO₃ (LAO), LaGaO₃ (LGO), and RAlO₃ on STO using a KrF pulsed excimer laser. Current work emphasizes the importance of understanding the effect of both epitaxial strain and R³+ magnetism on the interface between RAlO₃ and STO. We have demonstrated that the interfaces between LAO/STO and LGO/STO are metallic with carrier concentrations of 1.1 x 10¹⁴ cm[superscript -2] and 4.5 x 10¹⁴ cm[superscript −2], respectively. Rare-earth aluminate films, RAlO₃, with R = Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, and Tb, were also grown on STO. Conducting interfaces were found for R = Pr, Nd and Gd, and the results indicate that for R [does not equal] La the magnetic nature of the R³+ ion causes increased scattering with decreasing temperature that is modeled by the Kondo effect. Epitaxial strain between the polar RAlO₃ films and STO appears to play a crucial role in the transport properties of the metallic interface, where a decrease in the R³+ ion size causes an increase in sheet resistance and an increase in the onset temperatures for increased scattering. / text

Spintronics (spin based electronics) is a relatively new topic of research which is important both from the fundamental and technological point of view. In conventional electronics charge of the electron is manipulated and controlled to realize electronic devices. Spintronics uses charge as well as the spin degree of freedom of electrons, which is completely ignored in the charge based devices. This new device concept brings in a whole new set of device possibilities with potential advantages like higher speed, greater efficiency, non-volatility, reduced power consumption etc. The first realization of the spintronic device happened in 1989, owing to the discovery of the Giant Magneto-resistive (GMR) structure showing a large resistance change by the application of an external magnetic field. Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded for this discovery in 2007. In less than ten years, such devices moved from the lab to commercial devices, as read head sensors in hard disc drives. This new sensor led to an unprecedented yearly growth in the area l density of bits in a magnetic disc drive. Since 2005, another spintronic device known as Magnetic Tunnel Junction (MTJ) which shows a better performance replaced the existing GMR structures in the read heads. Another device which can potentially replace Si based Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) is Magneto-resistive Random Access Memory (MRAM). Being magnetic it is non-volatile, which means not only it retains its memory with the power turned off but also there is no constant power required for frequent refreshing. This can save a lot of power(~ 10-15 Watts in a DRAM), which is quite significant amount for any portable device which runs under battery. Prototype of a commercial MRAM is also made during 2004-2005 by Infineon and Freescale Semiconductors. Recent development has shown switching of magnetic moment by spin-polarised currents (known as spin transfer torque), electric fields, and photonic fields. Instead of Oersted field switching in the conventional MRAM devices, spin torque effect can also be used to switch a magnetic element more efficiently. Recently Spin-Torque MRAM has gained lot of interest due to it’s less power consumption during the writing process. A continuous research effort is going on in realizing other proposed spintronic devices, such as Spin Torque Oscillator, Spin Field Effect Transistor , Race Track Memory etc. which are yet to get realized or yet to make their entry in the commercial devices. Spintronics can be divided in to two broad subfields viz.(1) Semiconductor Spintronics and (2) Metallic Spintronics. Most of the devices belong to the second class whereas the former one is rich in fundamental science and not yet cleared its path towards the world of application. Any spintronic device requires ferromagnetic material which is generally the source of spin polarized electrons. For semiconductor spintronic devices, the main obstacle is the non-existence of the ferromagnetic semiconductor above room temperature (RT). So the development in this direction is very much dependent on the material science research and discovery of novel material systems. Almost a decade back, Dilute Magnetic Semiconductors (DMS) are proposed to behaving RT ferromagnetism. As a result an intense theoretical and experimental research is being carried out since then on these materials. Still a general consensus is lacking both in terms of theory as well as experiment. There are many methodologies and thin film deposition protocols have been followed by different research groups to realize spintronic device concepts. The deposition techniques such as magnetron sputtering, molecular beam epitaxy have been found very efficient for growing metallic spintronic devices. For semiconductor spintronics especially in the area of Dilute Magnetic Semiconductors (DMS) pulsed laser ablation is also considered to be a viable technique. Even though pulsed laser ablation is a very powerful technique to prepare stoichiometric multi-component oxide films, it’s viability for the growth of metallic films and multilayer is considered to be limited. In this regard, we have used pulsed laser ablation to prepare pure and Co doped ZnO films, to examine the magnetic and magneto-transport behavior of these oxides. In addition extensive work has been carried out to optimize and reproducibly prepare metallic multilayer by Pulsed Laser Deposition to realize Spin Valve (SV) effect, which proves the viability of this technique for making metallic multilayer. This thesis deals with the study of Pulsed Laser Deposition(PLD) deposited DMSs and metallic SVs. The thesis is organized into seven chapters as described below: • Chapter:1 This chapter gives an introduction to Spintronics and the different device structures. It is followed by a brief description of the motivation of the present work. Since magnetism is at the heart of the spintronics, next we attempt to introduce some of the basic concepts in magnetism, which are related to the topics discussed in the following chapters. We discuss about various exchange interactions responsible for the long range ferromagnetic ordering below Curie temperature in different compounds. Other magnetic properties are also discussed. Then another important phenomenon called magnetic anisotropy is brought in. We discuss the origin of different types of anisotropy in materials. These anisotropies are also responsible for magnetic domain formation. Then a description of the different types of domain walls are introduced. Unlike conventional electronics, spintronics deals with spin polarized current. A short description of spin polarization from the band picture and concept of half-metal is introduced. The next part (Section-I) of this chapter gives an overview of the challenges in semiconductor spintronics. The spin injection efficiency from a ferromagnetic metal to a semiconductor is found to be poor. This problem is attributed to the conductivity mismatch at the interface. DMS materials can be potential candidates in order to solve this problem. Ferromagnetism in these proposed materials cannot be explained in terms of the standard exchange mechanisms. A model was first proposed for the hole doped system based on Zener model. A more apt model for the n-doped high dielectric materials is then proposed based on Bound Magnetic Polarons (BMP). These models for the unusual ferromagnetism are briefly discussed. Although ferromagnetism is observed by different groups, often questions are raised about the intrinsic origin of this behavior and the topic is still under debate. In this study we have tried to correlate the magnetic property with the transport property as the transport properties are generally not affected much by the presence of external impurities and probes the intrinsic property of the material. Transport and the magneto-transport in disordered materials in general are discussed. A specific model proposed for degenerate semiconductors, which is used for fitting our experimental data is explained. As the ferromagnetism in these materials are generally found to be related to the defects, different types of possible defects are described. Section-II deals with the metallic SV devices. In the history of spintronics, this is one of the most basic and most studied structures, but still having a lot of interest both fundamentally and technologically. A brief history of this discovery and a chronological progress in the device structure is discussed. Our work focuses on the metallic spin valve (SV) structures. Different types of SVs and their properties are explained. In a SV structure one of the ferromagnets (FM) is pinned using an adjuscent antiferromagnetic layer by an effect called exchange bias. A brief description of exchange bias and the effects of different parameters is given. This is followed by a discussion about the theory of GMR which deals with the spin dependent scattering at the bulk and at the interfaces, their relative contributions, effect of the band matching etc. A simple resistor model is used to explain the qualitative behavior of these SVs. The chapter is concluded with a brief summery and applications. • Chapter:2 This chapter provides a brief description of some of the experimental apparatus that are used to perform various experiments. The chapter is organized according to the general functionality of the techniques. This includes different thin film deposition techniques which are used depending on the requirements and also for comparing the properties of the samples, grown by different techniques. Structural, spectroscopic, magnetic and different microscopy techniques which are extensively used throughout, are discussed and their working principles are explained. This work also involves nano/microstructuring of devices. Mainly two structuring techniques are used viz. e-beam lithography and optical lithography by laser writer. In this section we will be discussing about these two techniques and other associated techniques like lift-off, etching etc. Effect of different parameters on the device structures are highlighted. • Chapter:3 Chapter-3 deals with the synthesis and characterization of the pure and 5% Co doped ZnO bulk samples. First a brief introduction about the ZnO crystal structure, band structure and other properties are given followed by the synthesis technique followed in our study. Synthesis is done by low temeperature in organic co-precipitation method. This liquid phase synthesis gives better homogeniety. As-grown sample is also sintered at a higher temperature. Structural study confirms the proper synthesis of the intended compound. Spectroscopic as well as magnetic study of the bulk doped sample indicates the presence of Co nano clusters in the low temperature synthesized sample, whereas after sintering indication of Co2+ is observed which reflects in the magnetic property as well. These samples are used as target material for laser ablation. • Chapter:4 Chapter-4 presents the results of the pure and Co doped ZnO thin film samples. Thin films are grown by PLD method on r-plane Sapphire substrates. Details of the growth technique and the deposition parameters are explained. Our result shows that 5% Co doped ZnO thin film is ferromagnetic in nature as expected in a DMS material, although the film is grown using a paramagnetic target. We also report that pure ZnO grown in an oxygen deficient condition giving ferromagnetic behavior. Not only that, the obtained saturation moment is much higher compared to the Co doped sample. We have demonstrated that the FM can be tuned by tuning the oxygen content and FM disappears when the film is annealed in an oxygen environment .But for the Co doped sample magnetic property could not be tuned much as Co doping stabilizes the surface states. To exclude the possibilities of the extrinsic origin we have done a detailed magneto-transport study for both doped and undoped films. For ZnO, we have shown a one to one correlation of the magnetic and magneto-transport data which further supports the fact that the obtained magnetic behavior is intrinsic. Fitting of the magnetorsistance (MR) data for the pure and Co doped ZnO samples is done using a semi-empirical formula, consisting of both positive and negative MR terms originally proposed for degenerate semiconductors .Excellent agreement of the experimental data is found with the formula. For pure ZnO sample we have extracted the mobility, carrier concentration etc .by Hall measurement. The fabrication steps of Hall bar sample which involves optical lithography and ion beam etching are discussed. 3D e-e interaction induced transport mechanism is found to be dominant in case of oxygen deficient pure ZnO. • Chapter:5 Chapter-5 demonstrates the tuning of band gap of ZnO by alloying with MgO. By changing the ZnO:MgO ratio in PLD grown films, we could tune the band gap over a wide range. Composition alanalysis is done by Rutherford Back-Scattering. Structural and spectroscopic studies are carried out, which shows tuning of band gap upon alloying with MgO. We could tune ZnO band gap from 3.3eV to 3.92eV by30% MgO alloying, while retaining the Wurtzite crystal structure. • Chapter:6 Chapter-6 demonstrates the metallic Pseudo Spin Valve (PSV) structures grown by sputtering and by PLD. Main focus of this chapter is to show that, PLD can be aviable technique for making metallic PSV and Spin Valve (SV) structures. This is almost an unexplored technique for growing metallic thin film SVs, as it is evident in the literature. NiFe and Co are used as the soft and hard FM layers respectively, Au and Cu are used as the spacer layer. FeMn is used for pinning the Co layer in case of the SV structures. The first section describes the properties of these materials and then substrate preparation, deposition parameters etc. are explained in details. Properties of sputter deposited PSV structures are also described. Thickness variation of different layers, double PSV structure and angular variation of the MR properties are presented. Generally two measurement geometries are followed for the SV measurements viz.(1) Current In Plane (CIP) and (2) Current Perpendicular to Plane(CPP). We have carried out MR studies in both the measurement geometries. Measurement in CPP geometry is much more involved than CIP and need structuring with multiple lithography steps. CPP measurement geometry scheme and the process steps are discussed. For this measurement a special ac bridge technique is followed which is also discussed. In the next part we have demonstrated PSV and SV structures, grown, using PLD in an Ultra High Vacuum (UHV) system. Not only that, we have obtained a CIPMR as high as 3.3%. PLD is generally thought to be a technique for oxide deposition and metallic multilayers are not deposited due to particulate formation, high enegy of the adatom species which can lead to inter-mixing at the interface etc. But in this study we have shown that by properly tuning the deposition parameters, it is possible to grow SVs using PLD. We have found the roughness of the PLD grown films are much lower compared to the sputtered films. For top SV structures we have obtained exchange bias even in the absence of applied field during deposition. This effect is observed by performing magnetic and magneto-resistance measurements. Effect of different layer thicknesses, field annealing etc. are discussed. Two different spacer layers are used and their properties are compared. We have found that the interface engineered structures are giving highest MR among the different samples. Then a conclusion of our study is presented followed by a discussion on the difficulties and challenges faced for optimizing the PLD grown SVs. • Chapter:7 Finally, in Chapter-7, various results are summarized and a broad outlook is given. Perspectives for the continuation of the present work is also given.

Two technologies, namely Laser Technology and Surface Modification Technology, have made rapid strides in the last few decades. The lasers have evolved from a simple laboratory curiosity to a matured industrial tool and its applications are limited only by imagination. Intense, coherent and monochromatic laser sources with power outputs ranging over several orders of magnitude have found innumerable applications in the realm of materials engineering. Reactive Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) is a powerful technique that utilises the power of a nanosecond pulsed laser for materials synthesis. Unlike conventional PLD, which require high density targets that are difficult to synthesize at a reasonable cost, the RPLD circumvents the need for one such ceramic target. This thesis presents a detailed and judicious use of this technique for synthesis of hard ceramic multilayer coatings using elemental metal targets. Transition metal nitrides having rock salt structure are known to exhibit superior properties such as hardness and wear resistance and hence formed the basis for the development of first generation coatings. Further improvements through alloying of these binary compounds with metal or metalloid components lead to the development of second generation coatings. As the demand for functional materials increased, surface modification technology alias surface engineering, grew in leaps and bounds. As the large number of coating requirements for optimal performance could not be fulfilled by a single homogeneous material, third generation coatings, comprising multilayer coatings, were developed. It is this aspect of combining the advantages of RPLD process to synthesize ceramic multilayer coatings, provides the main motivation for the present research work. In this thesis, a systematic study presented for synthesis of nanocrystalline and stoichiometric TiN and NbN thin films using RPLD through ablation of high purity titanium and niobium targets, in the presence of low pressure nitrogen gas. A novel Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) based analysis was developed to effectively deduce the important process parameters in minimum trials to arrive at desired composition. The validity of this SIMS based method, for optimization of process parameters to get stoichiometric nitride films, was proved beyond any speculation by corroborative Proton Elastic Backscattering Spectrometric (PEBS) analysis. SIMS was also used to characterize the [NbN/TiN] multilayers. The feasibility of growing nanocrystalline multilayers with varying thicknesses has been demonstrated. Nanomechanical properties including hardness and adhesion strength of monolithic TiN and NbN films and multilayers were evaluated. The thesis is organised into six chapters. The first chapter gives a brief account on the history and development of ‘surface engineering’. The second chapter provides a comprehensive description of the experimental facility developed in-house to pursue research on PLD grown ceramic thin films and multilayers. Thin film synthesis procedure for ex-situ SIMS and TEM analyses is described. Brief introduction is also presented on the characterization techniques used in this study to investigate the surface, interface and microstructural aspects of PLD grown films with underlying basic principles. The third and fourth chapter describes the synthesis and characterization of titanium nitride and niobium nitride thin films using RPLD technique, respectively. SIMS was used in depth profiling mode, for optimization of three important process parameters, viz., nitrogen gas pressure, substrate temperature and laser pulse energy, to get stoichiometric nitride films. Further, films were characterized using GIXRD, TEM, XPS and PEBS for their structure and composition. AFM measurements were made to elucidate the surface morphological features. PEBS was effectively used to estimate the nitrogen concentration in a quantitative manner and the results corroborate well with the SIMS measurements. Having succeeded in synthesizing stoichiometric TiN and NbN films, further studies on the nanomechanical properties of monolithic TiN and NbN films and their multilayers were carried out and these results form the contents of the fifth chapter. The findings of the work reported in this thesis are concluded in Chapter 6 and few possible suggestions were presented as future directions. Both the monolithic TiN and NbN coatings showed a deposition pressure dependent hardness variation. The hardness of these monolithic films was found to be around 30 GPa, higher than the hardness values obtained by other conventional techniques. Keeping total thickness of the multilayers constant at 1 μm, [NbN/TiN] multilayers having bilayer periods ranging from 50 nm to 1000 nm, were synthesized. A systematic enhancement in hardness upto ~ 40 GPa was observed for [NbN/TiN]10 with the modulus of the multilayer remaining almost constant. The pileup observed around the indentation edge is indicative of toughening in multilayers. The tribological properties of multilayer films showed a better performance in terms of low coefficient of friction and regeneration of coating surfaces as revealed from the nanotribological studies. Overall, the multilayer coatings exhibited better performance in terms of hardness, toughness and adhesion with the substrate material.

White light emitting diodes (LED) have drawn increasing attention due to their low energy consumption, high efficiency and potential to become primary lighting source by replacing conventional light sources. White light emission is usually generated either by coating yellow phosphor on a blue-LED or blending red, green and blue phosphor in an appropriate ratio. Maintaining appropriate proportions of individual components in the blend is difficult and the major demerit of such system is the overall self-absorption, which changes the solution concentration. This results in uncontrolled changes in the whiteness of the emitted light. Zinc Oxide (ZnO), a wide bandgap semiconductor with a large exciton binding energy at room temperature has been recognized as a promising material for ultraviolet LEDs and laser diodes. Tuning of structural, optical and electrical properties of ZnO thin films by different dopants (Lithium, Indium and Gallium) is dealt in this thesis. The achievement of white light emission from a semiconducting material without using phosphors offers an inexpensive fabrication technology, good luminescence, low turn-on voltage and high efficiency. The present work is organized chapter wise, which has 8 chapters including the summary and future work. Chapter 1: Gives a brief discussion on the overview of ZnO as an optoelectronic material, crystal structure of semiconductor ZnO, the effect of doping, optical properties and its possible applications in optoelectronic devices. Chapter 2: Deals with various deposition techniques used in the present study, includes pulsed laser deposition and thermal evaporation. The experimental set up details and the deposition procedures are described in detail. A brief note on the structural characterization equipments, namely X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and the optical characterization techniques namely Raman spectroscopy, transmission spectroscopy and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy is presented. The electrical properties of the films were studied by current- voltage, capacitance - voltage and Hall Effect measurements and the experimental details are discussed. Chapter 3: High quality ZnO/Si heterojunctions fabricated by growing ZnO thin films on p-type Si (100) substrate by pulsed laser deposition without using buffer layers are discussed in this chapter. The crystallinity of the heterojunction was analyzed by high resolution X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy. The optical quality of the film was analyzed by room temperature (RT) photoluminescence measurements. The high intense band to band emission confirmed the high quality of the ZnO thin films on Si. The electrical properties of the junction were studied by temperature dependent resistivity, current- voltage measurements and RT capacitance-voltage (C-V) analysis. ZnO thin film showed the lowest resistivity of 6.4x10-3 Ω.cm, mobility of 7 cm2/V.sec and charge carrier concentration of 1.58x1019cm-3 at RT. The charge carrier concentration and the barrier height (BH) were calculated to be 9.7x1019cm-3 and 0.6 eV respectively from the C-V plot. The BH and ideality factor, calculated by using the thermionic emission (TE) model were found to be highly temperature dependent. We observed a much lower value in Richardson constant, 5.19x10-7 A/cm2K2 than the theoretical value (32 A/cm2K2) for ZnO. This analysis revealed the existence of a Gaussian distribution (GD) with a standard deviation of σ2=0.035 V. By implementing GD to the TE, the values of BH and Richardson constant were obtained as 1.3 eV and 39.97 A/cm2K2 respectively from the modified Richardson plot. The obtained Richardson constant value is close to the theoretical value for n-ZnO. These high quality heterojunctions can be used for solar cell applications. Chapter 4: This chapter describes the structural and optical properties of Li doped ZnO thin films and the properties of ZnO/Li doped ZnO multilayered thin film structures. Thin films of ZnO, Li doped ZnO (ZLO) and multilayer of ZnO and ZLO (ZnO/ZLO) were grown on silicon and Corning glass substrates by pulsed laser deposition technique. Single phase formation and the crystalline qualities of the films were analyzed by X-ray diffraction and Li composition in the film was investigated to be 15 Wt % by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Raman spectrum reveals the hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO, ZLO and ZnO/ZLO multilayer, confirms the single phase formation. Films grown on Corning glass show more than 80 % transmittance in the visible region and the optical band gaps were calculated to be 3.245, 3.26 and 3.22 eV for ZnO, ZLO and ZnO/ZLO respectively. An efficient blue emission was observed in all films that were grown on silicon (100) substrate by photoluminescence (PL). PL measurements at different temperatures reveal that the PL emission intensity of ZnO/ZLO multilayer was weakly dependent on temperature as compared to the single layers of ZnO and ZLO and the wavelength of emission was independent of temperature. Our results indicate that ZnO/ZLO multilayer can be used for the fabrication of blue light emitting diodes. Chapter 5: This chapter is divided in to two parts. The fabrication and characterization of In doped ZnO thin films grown on Corning glass substrate is discussed in the first section. Zinc Oxide (ZnO) and indium doped ZnO (IZO) thin films with different indium compositions were grown by pulsed laser deposition technique. The effect of indium concentration on the structural, morphological, optical and electrical properties of the film was studied. The films were oriented along the c-direction with wurtzite structure and are highly transparent with an average transmittance of more than 80 % in the visible wavelength region. The energy band gap was found to be decreasing with increasing indium concentration. High transparency makes the films useful as optical windows while the high band gap values support the idea that the film could be a good candidate for optoelectronic devices. The value of resistivity observed to be decreasing initially with doping concentration and subsequently increasing. The XPS and Raman spectrum confirm the presence of indium in indium doped ZnO thin films. The photoluminescence spectrum showed a tunable red light emission with different In concentrations. Undoped and In doped ZnO (IZO) thin films were grown on Pt coated silicon substrates (Pt/Si) to fabricate Pt/ZnO:Inx Schottky contacts (SC) is discussed in the second section. The SCs were investigated by conventional two probe current-voltage (I-V) measurement and by the I-V spectroscopy of conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM). X-ray diffraction technique was used to examine the thin film quality. Changes in various parameters like Schottky barrier height (SBH) and ideality factor (IF) as a function of temperature were presented. The estimated BH was found to be increasing and the IF was found to be decreasing with increase in temperature. The variation of SBH and IF with temperature has been explained by considering the lateral inhomogeneities in nanometer scale lengths at metal–semiconductor (MS) interface. The inhomogeneities of SBH in nanometer scale length were confirmed by C-AFM. The SBH and IF estimated from I-V spectroscopy of C-AFM showed large deviation from the conventional two probe I-V measurements. IZO thin films showed a decrease in SBH, lower turn on voltage and an enhancement in forward current with increase in In concentration. Chapter 6: In this chapter the properties of Ga doped ZnO thin films with different Ga concentrations along with undoped ZnO as a reference is discussed. Undoped and Ga doped ZnO thin films with different Ga concentrations were grown on Corning glass substrates by PLD. The structural, optical and electrical properties of Ga doped ZnO thin films are discussed. The XRD, XPS and Raman spectrum reveal the phase formation and successful doping of Ga on ZnO. All the films show good transmittance in the visible region and the photoluminescence of Ga doped ZnO showed a stable emission in the blue- green region. The resistivity of Ga doped ZnO thin films was found to be first decreasing and then increasing with increase in Ga concentrations. Chapter 7: The effect of co-doping to ZnO on the structural, optical and electrical properties was described in this chapter. Ga and In co-doped ZnO (GIZO) thin films together with ZnO, In doped ZnO (IZO), Ga doped ZnO (GZO), IZO/GZO multilayer for comparison, were grown on Corning glass and boron doped Si substrates by PLD. GIZO showed better structural, optical and electrical properties compared with other thin films. The Photoluminescence spectra of GIZO showed a strong white light emission and the current-voltage characteristics showed relatively lower turn on voltage and larger forward current. The CIE co-ordinates for GIZO were observed to be (0.31, 0.33) with a CCT of 6650 K, indicating a cool white light and established a possibility of white light emitting diodes. Finally the chapter 8 presents the summary derived out of the work and a few suggestions on future work.

In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird das Hauptaugenmerk auf die Untersuchung der Auswirkungen einer Modifikation der zugänglichen Prozessparameter auf die funktionalen Eigenschaften oxidischer Dünnfilme während der gepulsten Laserabscheidung (PLD) gelegt. Der erste Teil der Arbeit stellt die Herstellung von BaTiO3/SrTiO3-Mehrfach-Heterostrukturen auf thermisch und chemisch vorbehandelten SrTiO3-Substraten mittels gepulster Laserabscheidung (PLD) vor. Die zugängliche in-situ Wachstumskontrolle durch ein reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED)-System ermöglicht es die Wachstumsprozesse in Echtzeit zu überwachen. Angestrebt wird ein stabiler zwei-dimensionaler Wachstumsmodus, der neben glatten Grenzflächen auch eine hohe Dünnfilmqualität ermöglicht. Es wird erstmals die prinzipielle Anwendbarkeit von BaTiO3/SrTiO3-Heterostrukturen als Bragg-Spiegel aufgezeigt. Für BaTiO3- sowie SrTiO3-Dünnfilme wurden die PLD-Parameter Substrattemperatur, Sauerstoffpartialdruck, Energiedichte des Lasers sowie Flussdichte der Teilchen variiert und die Auswirkungen auf die strukturellen, optischen und Oberflächeneigenschaften mittels Röntgendiffraktometrie (XRD), spektraler Ellipsometrie (SE) und Rasterkraftmikroskopie (AFM) beleuchtet. Im zweiten Teil werden ZnO/MgxZn1−xO-Quantengrabenstrukturen hetero- und homoepitaktisch auf thermisch vorbehandelten a-Saphir- respektive m- und a-orientierten ZnO-Einkristallen vorgestellt. Die Realisierung eines zwei-dimensionalen „layer-by-layer“ Wachstumsmodus wird für die Quantengrabenstrukturen aufgezeigt. Die Quantengrabenbreite lässt sich aus beobachteten RHEED-Oszillationen exakt bestimmen. Ein Vergleich zwischen, mittels Photolumineszenz gemessenen Quantengrabenübergangsenergien als Funktion der Grabenbreite mit theoretisch ermittelten Werten wird vorgestellt, wobei der Unterschied zwischen polaren und nicht-polaren Strukturen mit Blick auf eine Anwendung aufgezeigt wird. Für c-orientierte ZnO-Dünnfilme wird das Wachstum im Detail untersucht und ein alternativer Abscheideprozess im so genannten Intervall PLD-Verfahren vorgestellt. Die Verifizierung der theoretischen Prognose einer ferromagnetischen Ordnung mit einer Curie-Temperatur oberhalb Raumtemperatur (RT) für kubische, Mangan stabilisierte Zirkondioxid (MnSZ)-Dünnfilme stellt den dritten Teil der Arbeit dar. Die strukturellen Eigenschaften der Dünnfilme werden mittels XRD, AFM sowie Transmissionselektronenmikroskopie (TEM) untersucht. Die Bedingungen einer erfolgreichen Stabilisierung der kubischen Kristallphase durch den Einbau von Mn wird aufgezeigt. Mittels Röntgenphotoelektronenspektroskopie (XPS) sowie Elektronenspinresonanz (EPR) wird der Ladungszustand der, in der Zirkondioxidmatrix eingebauten, Mn-Ionen ermittelt. Die elektrischen Eigenschaftenwerden durch Strom-Spannungsmessungen(IU) sowie der Leitungstyp durch Seebeck-Effekt Messungen charakterisiert. Zur Erhöhung der Leitfähigkeit werden die MnSZ Dünnfilme in verschiedenen Atmosphären thermisch behandelt und Veränderungen durch IU-Messungen aufgezeigt. Ergebnisse von optischen Untersuchungen mittels Transmissionsmessungen und KL werden präsentiert. Superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID)-Magnetometrie wird zur Charakterisierung der magnetischen Eigenschaften genutzt. Magnetische Ordnungen im Bereich zwischen 5 K ≤ T ≤ 300 K werden untersucht und der Einfluss von Defekten sowie einer thermischen Behandlung in verschiedenen Atmosphären auf die magnetischen Eigenschaften diskutiert.

In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird das Hauptaugenmerk auf die Untersuchung der Auswirkungen einer Modifikation der zugänglichen Prozessparameter auf die funktionalen Eigenschaften oxidischer Dünnfilme während der gepulsten Laserabscheidung (PLD) gelegt. Der erste Teil der Arbeit stellt die Herstellung von BaTiO3/SrTiO3-Mehrfach-Heterostrukturen auf thermisch und chemisch vorbehandelten SrTiO3-Substraten mittels gepulster Laserabscheidung (PLD) vor. Die zugängliche in-situ Wachstumskontrolle durch ein reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED)-System ermöglicht es die Wachstumsprozesse in Echtzeit zu überwachen. Angestrebt wird ein stabiler zwei-dimensionaler Wachstumsmodus, der neben glatten Grenzflächen auch eine hohe Dünnfilmqualität ermöglicht. Es wird erstmals die prinzipielle Anwendbarkeit von BaTiO3/SrTiO3-Heterostrukturen als Bragg-Spiegel aufgezeigt. Für BaTiO3- sowie SrTiO3-Dünnfilme wurden die PLD-Parameter Substrattemperatur, Sauerstoffpartialdruck, Energiedichte des Lasers sowie Flussdichte der Teilchen variiert und die Auswirkungen auf die strukturellen, optischen und Oberflächeneigenschaften mittels Röntgendiffraktometrie (XRD), spektraler Ellipsometrie (SE) und Rasterkraftmikroskopie (AFM) beleuchtet. Im zweiten Teil werden ZnO/MgxZn1−xO-Quantengrabenstrukturen hetero- und homoepitaktisch auf thermisch vorbehandelten a-Saphir- respektive m- und a-orientierten ZnO-Einkristallen vorgestellt. Die Realisierung eines zwei-dimensionalen „layer-by-layer“ Wachstumsmodus wird für die Quantengrabenstrukturen aufgezeigt. Die Quantengrabenbreite lässt sich aus beobachteten RHEED-Oszillationen exakt bestimmen. Ein Vergleich zwischen, mittels Photolumineszenz gemessenen Quantengrabenübergangsenergien als Funktion der Grabenbreite mit theoretisch ermittelten Werten wird vorgestellt, wobei der Unterschied zwischen polaren und nicht-polaren Strukturen mit Blick auf eine Anwendung aufgezeigt wird. Für c-orientierte ZnO-Dünnfilme wird das Wachstum im Detail untersucht und ein alternativer Abscheideprozess im so genannten Intervall PLD-Verfahren vorgestellt. Die Verifizierung der theoretischen Prognose einer ferromagnetischen Ordnung mit einer Curie-Temperatur oberhalb Raumtemperatur (RT) für kubische, Mangan stabilisierte Zirkondioxid (MnSZ)-Dünnfilme stellt den dritten Teil der Arbeit dar. Die strukturellen Eigenschaften der Dünnfilme werden mittels XRD, AFM sowie Transmissionselektronenmikroskopie (TEM) untersucht. Die Bedingungen einer erfolgreichen Stabilisierung der kubischen Kristallphase durch den Einbau von Mn wird aufgezeigt. Mittels Röntgenphotoelektronenspektroskopie (XPS) sowie Elektronenspinresonanz (EPR) wird der Ladungszustand der, in der Zirkondioxidmatrix eingebauten, Mn-Ionen ermittelt. Die elektrischen Eigenschaftenwerden durch Strom-Spannungsmessungen(IU) sowie der Leitungstyp durch Seebeck-Effekt Messungen charakterisiert. Zur Erhöhung der Leitfähigkeit werden die MnSZ Dünnfilme in verschiedenen Atmosphären thermisch behandelt und Veränderungen durch IU-Messungen aufgezeigt. Ergebnisse von optischen Untersuchungen mittels Transmissionsmessungen und KL werden präsentiert. Superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID)-Magnetometrie wird zur Charakterisierung der magnetischen Eigenschaften genutzt. Magnetische Ordnungen im Bereich zwischen 5 K ≤ T ≤ 300 K werden untersucht und der Einfluss von Defekten sowie einer thermischen Behandlung in verschiedenen Atmosphären auf die magnetischen Eigenschaften diskutiert.:Inhaltsverzeichnis 1. Einleitung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2. Grundlagen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.1. Thermodynamische Grundlagen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.1.1. Konzept der Übersättigung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.1.2. Beschreibung der Grenz- bzw. Oberfläche . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 2.2. Keimbildung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 2.2.1. Thermodynamische Grundlagen der Keimbildung . . . . . .. . . . 12 2.2.2. Atomistische Beschreibung der Keimbildung . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 2.3. Besonderheiten der Schichtbildung in Homo- und Heteroepitaxie 16 2.3.1. Homoepitaxie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 2.3.2. Heteroepitaxie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 2.4. Wachstumskinetik in der gepulsten Laserabscheidung . . . . . . . 19 3. Experimentelle Details 21 3.1. Probenherstellung – Gepulste Laser Abscheidung (PLD) . . . . . . 21 3.1.1. Allgemeine Grundlagen der PLD . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 3.1.2. Reflection high-energy electron diffraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 3.1.3. PLD-Kammer mit in-situ RHEED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 3.1.4. PLD-Kammer ohne in-situ RHEED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 3.2. Strukturelle und chemische Charakterisierung . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 3.2.1. Röntgendiffraktometrie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 3.2.2. Rasterkraftmikroskopie . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 3.2.3. Transmissionselektronenmikroskopie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 3.2.4. Energiedispersive Röntgenspektroskopie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 3.2.5. Rutherford-Rückstreuspektrometrie und Partikel-induzierte Röntgenemission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 3.2.6. Röntgenphotoelektronenspektroskopie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 3.3. Optische Charakterisierung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 3.3.1. Transmissionsmessungen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 3.3.2. Lumineszenzmessungen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 3.3.3. Spektroskopische Ellipsometrie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 3.3.4. Raman-Streuung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 3.4. Magnetische Charakterisierung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 3.4.1. Messungen der Magnetisierung mit einem SQUID-Magnetometer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 39 3.4.2. Elektronenspinresonanz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 3.5. Elektrische Charakterisierung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 3.5.1. Strom-Spannungs-Messungen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 3.5.2. Seebeck Effekt Messungen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 4. Die Herstellung und Charakterisierung von BaTiO3/SrTiO3-Bragg-Spiegeln mittels PLD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 4.1. Einführung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 4.2. Bragg-Spiegel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 4.3. Die Materialien Strontiumtitanat und Bariumtitanat . . . . . . . . . . 45 4.3.1. Kristallstruktur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 4.3.2. Substrateigenschaften . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 4.4. Epitaktische BaTiO3-Dünnfilme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 4.4.1. Heteroepitaktische BaTiO3-Dünnfilme auf SrTiO3 (001)-Substraten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 4.4.2. Initiale Wachstumsphasen von BaTiO3-Dünnfilmen auf SrTiO3 (001)-Substraten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 4.4.3. Auswirkung der PLD-Abscheideparameter auf epitaktische BaTiO3-Dünnfilme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60 4.4.4. Veränderung der optischen Konstanten durch die Modifikation der PLD-Abscheideparameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 4.5. Epitaktische SrTiO3-Dünnfilmen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 4.6. Abscheidung von BaTiO3/SrTiO3-Bragg-Spiegel . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 4.6.1. BaTiO3/SrTiO3-Einfach–Heterostrukturen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 4.6.2. BaTiO3/SrTiO3-Mehrfach–Heterostrukturen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 4.6.3. BaTiO3/SrTiO3-Bragg-Spiegel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 4.6.4. Abschlussbemerkungen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 5. Die Herstellung und Charakterisierung von ZnO/MgxZn1−xO-Quantengräben mittels PLD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 5.1. Einführung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 5.2. Die Materialien ZnO und MgxZn1−xO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 5.2.1. ZnO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 5.2.2. MgxZn1−xO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 5.3. Quantengrabenstrukturen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 5.3.1. Exzitonen im Zinkoxid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 5.3.2. Quantum-Confined Stark Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 5.4. Die Abscheidung von ZnO- und MgxZn1−xO-Dünnfilmen mittels PLD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 5.4.1. Heteroepitaktische Abscheidung von ZnO- und MgxZn1−xO-Dünnfilmen auf a-Saphir-Substraten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 5.4.2. Homoepitaktische Abscheidung von ZnO- und MgxZn1−xO-Dünnfilmen auf verschiedenen ZnO-Substraten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 5.5. Die Herstellung von ZnO/MgxZn1−xO-Quantengrabenstrukturen auf verschiedenen Substraten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 5.5.1. Heteroepitaktische Quantengrabenstrukturen auf a-Saphir-Substraten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 5.5.2. Anmerkungen zu homoepitaktischen Quantengrabenstrukturen abgeschieden auf c-ZnO-Substraten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 5.5.3. Homoepitaktischen Quantengrabenstrukturen abgeschieden auf nicht-polaren ZnO-Substraten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 5.5.4. Abschlussbemerkungen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 6. Die Herstellung und Charakterisierung von Mangan stabilisierten Zirkondioxid als potentieller verdünnter magnetischer Halbleiter mittels PLD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 6.1. Einführung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 6.2. Theoretische Grundlagen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 6.2.1. Spintronik . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 6.2.2. Verdünnte magnetische Halbleiter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 6.2.3. Ferromagnetische Kopplung in verdünnten magnetische Halbleitern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 6.3. Mangan stabilisiertes Zirkondioxid als möglicher DMS . . . . . . . . 162 6.4. Das Material Zirkondioxid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 6.4.1. Die Phasen des Zirkondioxids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 6.5. Substrateigenschaften von (001) und (111) orientiertem Yttrium stabilisierten Zirkondioxid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 6.6. Untersuchungen an Mangan stabilisierten Zirkondioxid Dünnfilmen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .176 6.6.1. Strukturelle und chemische Charakterisierung . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 6.6.2. Analyse der unterschiedlichen Phasen im Mangan stabilisierten Zirkondioxid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .190 6.6.3. Elektrische und optische Charakterisierung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 6.6.4. Magnetische Charakterisierung von Mangan stabilisiertem Zirkondioxid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .210 6.6.5. Magnetische Charakterisierung von nominell undotiertem Zirkondioxid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .221 6.6.6. MnSZ-Mehrfach-Heterostrukturen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 6.6.7. Einfluss einer thermischen Behandlung auf die magnetischen Eigenschaften . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .227 6.6.8. Zusammenfassung der Messergebnisse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 6.7. Abschlussbemerkung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 7. Zusammenfassung und Ausblick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 8. Literaturverzeichnis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 A. Symbole und Abkürzungen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 B. Liste der Veröffentlichungen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 C. Danksagung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283 D. Curriculum Vitae . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .286 E. Selbstständigkeitserklärung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Die vorliegende Arbeit behandelt die Dispersion von Exziton-Polaritonen in ZnO-basierten Mikroresonatoren, welche zum einen theoretisch bezüglich der Eigenschaften der reinen Kavitätsmoden und zum anderen experimentell mittels Photolumineszenz-Spektroskopie und Reflektionsmessungen untersucht wurden. Dabei wird besonders auf die Rolle der linearen Polarisation sowie auf die Besetzung der Exziton-Polaritonen-Zustände eingegangen. Dies ist von Interesse, da diese Mikroresonatoren vielversprechende Kandidaten für die Realisierung eines Exziton-Polariton Kondensates sind, welches ähnliche Eigenschaften wie das klassische Bose-Einstein Kondensat besitzt. Die Eigenschaften der Exzitonen-Polaritonen werden durch die der beteiligten ungekoppelten Exzitonen und Photonen bestimmt. Im Falle der Photonen hängen diese stark von der linearen Polarisation ab, da es sich bei der ZnO-Kavität um ein optisch anisotropes Material handelt. Mittels einer entwickelten Näherung für die Berechnung der Kavitätsmoden, welche die optische Anisotropie der Kavität sowie die endliche Ausdehnung der Spiegel berücksichtigt, konnte gezeigt werden, dass im Falle der hier verwendeten ZnO-Kavität die optische Anisotropie zu einer Reduktion der Energieaufspaltung zw. der s- und p-polarisierten Mode im sichtbaren Spektralbereich führt. Der allgemeine Fall einer optisch anisotropen Kavität wird ebenfalls diskutiert. In den untersuchten ZnO-basierten Mikroresonatoren konnte eine starke Wechselwirkung zwischen Exzitonen und Photonen bis zu einer Temperatur von T = 410 K beobachten werden. Dabei wurde eine maximale Kopplungsstärke von 55 meV bei T = 10 K ermittelt. Anhand des beobachteten Verlaufs der Dispersion der Exziton-Polaritonen konnten in einem Mikroresonator Hinweise für eine zusätzliche Kopplung zwischen gebundenen Exzitonen und Photonen gefunden werden. Des Weiteren zeigte die Dispersion der Exziton-Polaritonen eine starke Polarisationsabhängigkeit. Eine maximale Energieaufspaltung des unteren Zweiges für die beiden linearen Polarisationen von 6 meV bei einem starken negativen Detuning von -70 meV wurde beobachtet. Es wird gezeigt, dass diese hohe Energieaufspaltung einen großen Einfluss auf die Besetzung der Zustände der Exziton-Polaritonzweige hat. Unter Verwendung verschiedener Anregungsleistungen und einer keilartigen Kavität wurde der Einfluss des Detunings systematisch auf die Besetzung der Exziton-Polaritonzustände untersucht und diskutiert. Es konnte eine Voraussage für den optimalen Detuning – Temperaturbereich für eine mögliche Kondensation getroffen werden. Erste Beobachtungen eines Kondensates in einem der Resonatoren bestätigen die Ergebnisse der vorliegenden Arbeit.

Die vorliegende Arbeit behandelt die Dispersion von Exziton-Polaritonen in ZnO-basierten Mikroresonatoren, welche zum einen theoretisch bezüglich der Eigenschaften der reinen Kavitätsmoden und zum anderen experimentell mittels Photolumineszenz-Spektroskopie und Reflektionsmessungen untersucht wurden. Dabei wird besonders auf die Rolle der linearen Polarisation sowie auf die Besetzung der Exziton-Polaritonen-Zustände eingegangen. Dies ist von Interesse, da diese Mikroresonatoren vielversprechende Kandidaten für die Realisierung eines Exziton-Polariton Kondensates sind, welches ähnliche Eigenschaften wie das klassische Bose-Einstein Kondensat besitzt. Die Eigenschaften der Exzitonen-Polaritonen werden durch die der beteiligten ungekoppelten Exzitonen und Photonen bestimmt. Im Falle der Photonen hängen diese stark von der linearen Polarisation ab, da es sich bei der ZnO-Kavität um ein optisch anisotropes Material handelt. Mittels einer entwickelten Näherung für die Berechnung der Kavitätsmoden, welche die optische Anisotropie der Kavität sowie die endliche Ausdehnung der Spiegel berücksichtigt, konnte gezeigt werden, dass im Falle der hier verwendeten ZnO-Kavität die optische Anisotropie zu einer Reduktion der Energieaufspaltung zw. der s- und p-polarisierten Mode im sichtbaren Spektralbereich führt. Der allgemeine Fall einer optisch anisotropen Kavität wird ebenfalls diskutiert. In den untersuchten ZnO-basierten Mikroresonatoren konnte eine starke Wechselwirkung zwischen Exzitonen und Photonen bis zu einer Temperatur von T = 410 K beobachten werden. Dabei wurde eine maximale Kopplungsstärke von 55 meV bei T = 10 K ermittelt. Anhand des beobachteten Verlaufs der Dispersion der Exziton-Polaritonen konnten in einem Mikroresonator Hinweise für eine zusätzliche Kopplung zwischen gebundenen Exzitonen und Photonen gefunden werden. Des Weiteren zeigte die Dispersion der Exziton-Polaritonen eine starke Polarisationsabhängigkeit. Eine maximale Energieaufspaltung des unteren Zweiges für die beiden linearen Polarisationen von 6 meV bei einem starken negativen Detuning von -70 meV wurde beobachtet. Es wird gezeigt, dass diese hohe Energieaufspaltung einen großen Einfluss auf die Besetzung der Zustände der Exziton-Polaritonzweige hat. Unter Verwendung verschiedener Anregungsleistungen und einer keilartigen Kavität wurde der Einfluss des Detunings systematisch auf die Besetzung der Exziton-Polaritonzustände untersucht und diskutiert. Es konnte eine Voraussage für den optimalen Detuning – Temperaturbereich für eine mögliche Kondensation getroffen werden. Erste Beobachtungen eines Kondensates in einem der Resonatoren bestätigen die Ergebnisse der vorliegenden Arbeit.