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For a detailed study on the semiconductor to metal transition (SMT) in ZnO thin films doped with Al in the concentration range from 0.02% to 2%, we grew these films on (0001) sapphire substrates using sequential pulsed laser deposition. It was found that the Al concentration in the films increased monotonically with the ratio of ablation durations of the alumina and ZnO targets used during the deposition. Using x-ray photo electron spectroscopy, it was found that while most of the Al atoms occupy the Zn sites in the ZnO lattice, a small fraction of the Al also gets into the grain boundaries present in the films. The observed SMT temperature decreased from ∼270 to ∼50 K with increase in the Al concentration from 0.02% to 0.25%. In the Al concentration range of ∼0.5% to 2%, these doped ZnO films showed metallic behavior at all the temperatures without undergoing any SMT. A theoretical model based on thermal activation of electrons and electron scatterings due to the grain boundaries, ionic impurities, and phonons has been developed to explain the observed concentration and temperature dependent SMT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pulsed laser deposition technique was used for growing thin films of ZnO on Si (100) substrate held at different temperatures (Ts). All the as-deposited films have shown a preferential c-axis orientation associated with varying grain size as a function of Ts ranging from 100 to 600 °C. Current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of these films show Ohmic behavior over the entire Ts range studied. These films were subjected to annealing at 800 °C in air ambient for 4 h. The grain size was observed to increase after the annealing process for all the films deposited at different Ts. Interestingly, these annealed films show nonlinear variation of current with applied voltage, very similar to the one observed in doped ZnO varistors. The nonlinear parameters such as the asymmetric behavior of change in current on the polarity reversal of voltage, the plateau region, and the break down voltage are observed to depend on Ts. This nonlinear behavior can perhaps be explained on the basis of electronic conduction model proposed for the bulk, doped ZnO varistors. The role of insulating intergranular layers between the disoriented microcrystallites is expected to be similar to that played by insulating intergranular layers in the doped ZnO varistors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A clear signature of disorder induced quantum-interference phenomena leading to phase-coherent electron transport was observed in (Zn, Al)Ox thin films grown by atomic layer deposition. The degree of static-disorder was tuned by varying the Al concentration through periodic incorporation of Al2O3 sub-monolayer in ZnO. All the films showed small negative magnetoresistance due to magnetic field suppressed weak-localization effect. The temperature dependence of phase-coherence length (lφ ∝ T-3/4 ), as extracted from the magnetoresistance measurements, indicated electron-electron scattering as the dominant dephasing mechanism. The persistence of quantum-interference at relatively higher temperatures up to 200 K is promising for the realization of ZnO based phase-coherent electron transport devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Six decades of research on ZnO has recently sprouted a new branch in the domain of resistive random access memories. Highly resistive and c-axis oriented ZnO thin films were grown by us using d.c. discharge assisted pulsed laser deposition on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates at room temperature. The resistive switching characteristics of these films were studied in the top-bottom configuration using current-voltage measurements at room temperature. Reliable and repeated switching of the resistance of ZnO thin films was obtained between two well defined states of high and low resistance with a narrow dispersion and small switching voltages. Resistance ratios of the high resistance state to low resistance state were found to be in the range of 2–5 orders of magnitude up to 20 test cycles. The conduction mechanism was found to be dominated by the Ohmic behaviour in low resistance states, while Poole-Frenkel emission was found to dominate in high resistance state. The achieved characteristics of the resistive switching in ZnO thin films seem to be promising for nonvolatile memory applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Temperature dependence of the photoluminescence (PL) transitions in the range of 10–300K was studied for ZnO thin films grown on sapphire by pulsed laser deposition. The low temperature PL spectra were dominated by recombination of donor bound excitons (B X) and their phonon replicas. With increasing temperature, free exciton (F X) PL and the associated LO phonon replicas increased in intensity at the expense of their bound counterparts. The B X peak with line width of ∼6meV at 10K exhibited thermal activation energy of ∼17meV, consistent with the exciton-defect binding energy. The separation between the F X and B X peak positions was found to reduce with increasing temperature, which was attributed to the transformation of B X into the shallower donor bound exciton complexes at consecutive lower energy states with increasing temperature, which are possible in ZnO. The energy separation between F X peak and its corresponding 1-LO phonon replica showed stronger dependence on temperature than that of 2-LO phonon replica. However, their bound counterparts did not exhibit this behavior. The observed temperature dependence of the energy separation between the free exciton and it is LO phonon replicas are explained by considering the kinetic energy of free exciton. The observed PL transitions and their temperature dependence are consistent with observations made with bulk ZnO crystals implying high crystalline and optical quality of the grown films. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We have grown Ga doped ZnO (GZO) thin films at moderate temperatures with Ga concentrations in the range varying from 0.25 to 3 at.% on sapphire substrates using buffer assisted pulsed laser deposition. Room temperature resistivity measured was ∼5.1 × 10 −5 Ω cm with a electron mobility of ∼41.9 cm 2 /V s for an optimum Ga concentration of ∼0.75 at.% in the GZO films. Buffer assisted growth methodology maintains relatively good crystalline quality of the GZO thin films, thereby improving the electron mobility even at high dopant concentrations. This plays a key role in decreasing the resistivity of GZO films to the aforementioned value, which to the best of our knowledge is the lowest so far. These highly conducting GZO thin films with good mobility are potential candidates for transparent conducting oxide (TCO) applications in various optoelectronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Highly transparent and conducting Chromium doped ZnO (Cr:ZnO) thin films with preferential c-axis orientation were grown on (0001) sapphire substrates using buffer assisted pulsed laser deposition. The resistivity of Cr:ZnO thin films was found to decrease to a minimum value of ∼1.13×10−3Ωcm with the increasing Cr concentration up to ∼1.9at.% and then increase with further increase of Cr concentration. On the contrary, the band gap and carrier concentration of Cr:ZnO thin films increased up to ∼3.37eV and ∼2×1020 cm−3, respectively, with the increase of Cr concentration up to ∼1.9at.%, then decreased with further increase of Cr concentration. The increase of carrier concentration and conductivity with Cr doping at low Cr concentrations (<1.9at.%) could be attributed to the presence of Cr in +3 valence state in ZnO thus acting as donor while decrease of carrier concentration beyond ∼1.9at.% of Cr concentration could be attributed to the charge compensating effect due to the presence of acceptor like point defects such as oxygen interstitials. This was experimentally confirmed using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The observed variation in the band gap of Cr:ZnO thin films with increasing Cr doping was attributed to the competing effects of the high free carrier concentration induced Burstein-Moss blue shift and band gap narrowing. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Transparent conductive dysprosium doped ZnO (Dy:ZnO) thin films with preferential orientation in the (0002) direction were deposited on (0001) sapphire substrate by buffer assisted pulsed laser deposition. The experimental results show that the resistivity of Dy:ZnO thin films decreased to a minimum value of ∼7.6×10−4 Ωcm with increasing Dy concentration up to ∼0.45at%, then increased with the further increase of Dy concentration. On the contrary, the band gap and carrier concentration of Dy:ZnO thin films initially increased, then decreased with increase of Dy concentration. The blue shift of band gap of Dy:ZnO thin films with increasing carrier concentration was attributed to the competing effects of Burstein-Moss shift and band gap narrowing. A bright room temperature photoluminescence observed at ∼575nm in all the Dy:ZnO thin films, with maximum intensity at ∼0.45at% of Dy doping, was attributed to be due to intra-band transitions of Dy3+ in ZnO. Near band edge photoluminescence of ZnO was observed at ∼380nm with photoluminescence intensity decreasing with increase of Dy concentration. Such Dy:ZnO thin films are found to be suitable candidate for luminescent device applications. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]