Hot-electron relaxation in ZnO films

The energy relaxation of hot electrons in ZnO films was investigated by the electric-field-dependent photoluminescence. From the high-energy tail of photoluminescence, the electron temperature of the hot electrons in ZnO was determined. Longitudinal optical phonon emission alone cannot explain the relationship between the electron temperature and the electron energy loss rate. Instead, it can be explained by a model based on a combination of both the acoustic and longitudinal optical phonon emissions.