Realization of p-type Conduction in Antimony Doped ZnO Thin Films by PLD

Antimony (Sb) doped ZnO thin films (0.1 at.%) were deposited on sapphire (0001) substrates at various temperatures (200 - 600$^{\circ}C$) by using pulsed laser deposition technique. All the thin films have been characterized by X-ray diffractometer, atomic force microscopy and spectrophotometer to investigate their structural, morphological and optical properties, respectively. Hall measurements were also carried out to identify the electrical properties of the thin films. These thin films were constituted in wurtzite structure with the preferential orientation of (002) diffraction plane and had as high as 80% optical transmission in the visible range. The bandgap energy also was determined by spectrophotometer which was around 3.28 eV. Hall measurements results revealed that the Sb dope ZnO thin film (0.1 at.%) grown at $500^{\circ}C$ exhibited p-type conduction with a carrier concentration of $8.633\times10^{16}\;cm^{-3}$, a mobility of $1.41\;cm^2/V{\cdot}s$ and a resistivity of $51.8\;\Omega{\cdot}cm$. We have successfully achieved p-type conduction in antimony doped ZnO thin films with low doping level even though the electrical properties are not favorable. This paper suggests the feasibility of p-type doping with large-size-mismatched dopant by using pulsed laser deposition.

PLD를 이용한 Antimony가 도핑된 p 형 ZnO 박막의 구현