Issue 26, 2017, Issue in Progress

Hydrogen incorporation effect in phosphorus-doped p-type ZnO thin films grown by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering

Abstract

We report on the influence of hydrogen incorporation on the conductivity of phosphorous (P) doped ZnO thin films grown by using radio-frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering. The P dopant is an oxide form of P2O5, which is introduced into ZnO thin films using RF plasma with oxygen ambient to suppress the generation of O vacancies. The resultant P-doped ZnO thin films were analyzed by means of field-emission scanning electron microcopy (FE-SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, photoluminescence and Hall effect measurements. It was observed that the P2O5-doped ZnO thin films annealed at 800 °C exhibited the best electrical property with p-type behavior. Hydrogen atoms in ZnO thin films play an unusual role since it acts as a shallow donor and it may control the n-type conductivity in undoped material. Measurements revealed that the hydrogen atoms can be easily incorporated from the P-doped ZnO sputtering target as the natural hydrogen incorporation in P-doped ZnO thin films during magnetron sputtering. The role of hydrogen atoms incorporated in ZnO thin films is investigated by means of SIMS analysis.

Graphical abstract: Hydrogen incorporation effect in phosphorus-doped p-type ZnO thin films grown by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
18 Jan 2017
Accepted
05 Mar 2017
First published
13 Mar 2017
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2017,7, 16119-16125

Hydrogen incorporation effect in phosphorus-doped p-type ZnO thin films grown by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering

M. Oh and R. Navamathavan, RSC Adv., 2017, 7, 16119 DOI: 10.1039/C7RA00759K

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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