Comprehensive study of the p-type conductivity formation in radio frequency magnetron sputtered arsenic-doped ZnO film

This article is based on material presented at the 6th International Workshop on Zinc Oxide and Related MaterialsArsenic doped ZnO and ZnMgO films were deposited on SiO 2 using radio frequency magnetron sputtering and ZnO-Zn 3As 2 and ZnO-Zn 3As 2 -MgO targets, respectively. It was found that thermal activation is required to activate the formation of p -type conductivity. Hall measurements showed that p -type films with a hole concentration of ∼ 10(17) cm(-3) and mobility of ∼8 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) were obtained at substrate temperatures of 400-500 °C. The shallow acceptor formation mechanism was investigated using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, positron annihilation, low temperature photoluminescence, and nuclear reaction analysis. The authors suggest that the thermal annealing activates the formation of the As(Zn)-2V(Zn) shallow acceptor complex and removes the compensating hydrogen center. © 2011 American Vacuum Society.published_or_final_versio