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Investigation on the formation mechanism of p-type ZnO:In-N thin films: experiment and theory

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Abstract

Effects of post-annealing on electrical properties of N+ ion-implanted into indium doped ZnO (ZnO:In-N) films are investigated. p-type conduction of ZnO:In-N films with the appropriate annealing have been confirmed by Hall-effect measurements and electrical rectification behavior of homojunctions. The transmitted spectra and temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy results show that the band gap of p-type ZnO:In-N is narrow as compared to ZnO:In and the ionization acceptor energy is estimated to be 128 meV, which agrees well with our calculated transition levels \(\varepsilon \left( {0/ - 1} \right)\) of InZn-2NO. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) spectra confirm the dominant existence of N-related acceptor defect complexes in p-type samples. Combining with transition state calculations, we find that the incorporation of In can facilitate p-type effective doping by pinning a passive impurity band above the valence band maximum (VBM) and decreasing thermal activation energy of N interstitial (Ni) in ZnO.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51472038 and 51502030), the Nature Science Foundation of Chongqing City (Grant Nos. CSTC2016jcyjA, 2018jcyjA2923), Education Commission Foundation of Chongqing (Grant No. KJ1500319, 1501112, 1600314), the Dr. Scientific Research Fund of Chongqing normal university (Grant No. 16XlB002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, 401331, China

    G. P. Qin, W. J. Li, J. Wang, D. Wang & C. Y. Kong

  2. College of Physics, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 401331, China

    H. Zhang & L. Fang

  3. Research Center for Materials Interdisciplinary Sciences, Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences, Chongqing, 402160, China

    H. B. Ruan

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  1. G. P. Qin
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Qin, G.P., Zhang, H., Li, W.J. et al. Investigation on the formation mechanism of p-type ZnO:In-N thin films: experiment and theory. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 30, 6059–6064 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-019-00906-z

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