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Evolution of Metallic Conductivity in Epitaxial ZnO Thin Films on Systematic Al Doping

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Abstract

The metal-like behaviors and metal–semiconductor transition (MST) of highly conducting Zn1−x Al x O (x = 1 at.% to 10 at.%) thin films deposited by cosputtering on a-Al2O3 have been investigated. The temperature-dependent transport properties reveal that the Zn1−x Al x O films were highly degenerate. The MST temperature (T MST) varied from 190 K to 260 K with Al doping from x = 2 at.% to 10 at.%. A simple degenerate band model is used to explain the observed shift in the metal-like behaviors upon Al doping. An empirical approach is used to analyze the resistivity functional below TMST, taking into account the contributions from both the weak localization and Coulomb interactions in explaining the MST. Analysis by least-square fittings of measured data shows excellent agreement. The optical bandgap increases with carrier concentration as n 2/3Hall , which is interpreted as the Burstein–Moss shift for a nonparabolic effective mass. Such nonparabolicity is scrutinized by quantitative comparisons of the plasma edge values n optical versus the n Hall values.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Taiwan, ROC, under Grant Nos. 103-2112-M-110-003, 104-2221-E-110-063, and 105-2221-E-110-042 for P.V.W., O.L., and L.W.T., O.L. is now with Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico. Partial support by the State of Texas through the Texas Centre for Superconductivity at University of Houston is also acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC

    P. V. Chinta, O. Lozano, P. V. Wadekar, W. C. Hsieh, L. W. Tu, W. Y. Pang, Ikai Lo & Q. Y. Chen

  2. Department of Physics and Texas Center for Superconductivity, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 77204, USA

    P. V. Chinta, O. Lozano, P. V. Wadekar, Y. S. Zhang, Q. Y. Chen & W. K. Chu

  3. Department of Physics, Jeju National University, Jeju-Si, Korea

    H. W. Seo

  4. Department of Mold and Die Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Applied Science and Technology, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC

    S. W. Yeh

  5. Department of Physics, Military Academy, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC

    C. H. Liao

  6. Department of Materials and Optoelectronic Sciences and Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC

    N. J. Ho

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  1. P. V. Chinta
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  2. O. Lozano
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Correspondence to Q. Y. Chen.

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Chinta, P.V., Lozano, O., Wadekar, P.V. et al. Evolution of Metallic Conductivity in Epitaxial ZnO Thin Films on Systematic Al Doping. J. Electron. Mater. 46, 2030–2039 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-016-5117-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-016-5117-x

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