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Effect of titanium doping on conductivity, density of states and conduction mechanism in ZnO thin film

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Abstract

High quality, ~ 120 nm thin ZnO and Ti-doped ZnO (TZO) films were deposited on silicon substrates using magnetron co-sputtering technique. Surface roughness of the films was ~ 2 nm. Ti incorporation effect on the structure, morphology, conductivity, density of states (DOS) and conduction mechanism was investigated in detail. Ti ions were incorporated in the interstitial sites of hexagonal ZnO lattice. Average crystallite size increased from ~ 16.63 to ~ 19.08 nm upon Ti doping in ZnO film. Conduction mechanism changed from overlapping large polaron tunneling (OLPT) for undoped ZnO film to corelated barrier hopping (CBH) for TZO film. The experimental data were fitted theoretically using OLPT and CBH models to calculate frequency and temperature-dependent DOS. An enhancement of ac conductivity and DOS was observed with the doping of Ti in ZnO thin film. Complex modulus study of TZO film revealed transition from long-range mobility to short-range mobility with increase in frequency.

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Acknowledgements

M. A. Rafiq would like to acknowledge Higher Education Commission for financial support under National Research Program for Universities (NRPU Project No 3662). M. A. Rafiq would also like to acknowledge the financial support from Chinese Academy of Sciences Presidents’s International fellowship initiative grant No 2018VTA0002. A. Jamil would like to thank Higher Education Commission for financial support through IRSIP.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Applied Mathematics, Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS), P.O. Nilore, Islamabad, 45650, Pakistan

    Arifa Jamil & M. A. Rafiq

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 639798, Singapore

    Arifa Jamil

  3. Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS), P.O. Nilore, Islamabad, 45650, Pakistan

    S. Fareed

  4. Energy Research Institute (ERI), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, Singapore

    N. Tiwari

  5. State Key Laboratory on Integrated Optoelectronics, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100083, China

    Chuanbo Li, Buwen Cheng & M. A. Rafiq

  6. School of Science, Minzu University of China, Beijing, 100081, China

    Chuanbo Li

  7. Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Xiulai Xu

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Jamil, A., Fareed, S., Tiwari, N. et al. Effect of titanium doping on conductivity, density of states and conduction mechanism in ZnO thin film. Appl. Phys. A 125, 238 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-019-2544-6

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