Controlling Crystallization of All-Inorganic Perovskite Films for Ultralow-Threshold Amplification Spontaneous Emission.

All-inorganic lead halide perovskites have gained considerable interest owing to their potential applications in an array of high-performance optoelectronic devices. However, producing highly luminescent, nearly pinhole-free, all-inorganic perovskite films through a simple solution process remains challenging. Here, we provide a detailed investigation of the crystallization control of inorganic perovskite films fabricated by a one-step spin-coating process. Our results reveal that the coating temperature in the fabrication process is of paramount importance in influencing perovskite crystallization and that lowering the coating temperature and fine stoichiometry modification of the precursors favor the suppression of trap states in CsPbBr perovskite films. A broad range of experimental characterizations help us identify that nonsynergistic assembly of solutes, resulting from poor diffusion capability of inorganic salts, is the dominant cause for the inhomogeneous element distribution, low luminescence yield, and poor surface coverage of the resulting films. Importantly, we find that polyethylene glycol can also be used for tailoring the crystallization process, which enables the attainment of high-quality CsPbBr films with a maximum luminescence yield of ∼30%. Finally, we demonstrate that amplification spontaneous emission with an ultralow threshold can be readily accomplished by using the developed film as an emissive component. Our findings provide deep insights into the crystallization control of CsPbBr perovskite films and establish a systematic route to high-quality all-inorganic perovskite films, paving the way for widespread optoelectronic applications.