Enhancement of conductivity and transmittance of ZnO films by post hydrogen plasma treatment

Journal Article · Wed Apr 15 04:00:00 EDT 2009 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3108543· OSTI ID:21356115

Cai, P F; You, J B; Zhang, X W; Dong, J J; Yang, X L; Yin, Z G; Chen, N F ^[1]

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1. Key Laboratory of Semiconductor Materials Science, Institute of Semiconductors, CAS, Beijing 100083 (China)

We studied the effects of hydrogen plasma treatment on the electrical and optical properties of ZnO films deposited by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. It is found that the ZnO:H film is highly transparent with the average transmittance of 92% in the visible range. Both carrier concentration and mobility are increased after hydrogen plasma treatment, correspondingly, the resistivity of the ZnO:H films achieves the order of 10{sup -3} OMEGA cm. We suggest that the incorporated hydrogen not only passivates most of the defects and/or acceptors present, but also introduces shallow donor states such as the V{sub O}-H complex and the interstitial hydrogen H{sub i}. Moreover, the annealing data indicate that H{sub i} is unstable in ZnO, while the V{sub O}-H complex remains stable on the whole at 400 deg. C, and the latter diffuses out when the annealing temperature increases to 500 deg. C. These results make ZnO:H more attractive for future applications as transparent conducting electrodes.

• OSTI ID: 21356115
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 105; ISSN JAPIAU; ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ANNEALING
CARRIER DENSITY
CARRIER MOBILITY
CHALCOGENIDES
COMPLEXES
CRYSTAL DEFECTS
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
CRYSTALS
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTS
FILMS
HEAT TREATMENTS
HYDROGEN
HYDROGEN COMPLEXES
INTERSTITIALS
LIGHT TRANSMISSION
MATERIALS
MOBILITY
NONMETALS
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PLASMA
POINT DEFECTS
RADIATIONS
RADIOWAVE RADIATION
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
SPECTRA
SPUTTERING
THIN FILMS
TRANSMISSION
VACANCIES
VISIBLE SPECTRA
ZINC COMPOUNDS
ZINC OXIDES