Thin Solid Films, Vol.531, 197-202, 2013
Influence of Si concentration on electrical and optical properties of room temperature ZnO:Si thin films
Si-doped Zinc Oxide (S(x)ZO, x from 0 to 4.5 at.%) thin films are grown at room temperature under an oxygen pressure of 1.0 Pa, using Pulsed Laser Deposition. Hall effect measurements report a decrease in resistivity as Si concentration increases from x=0 to x similar to 1.5% (rho(S1.5ZO)=9x10(-4) Omega cm) followed by an increase in resistivity as the Si content further increases. The enhancement in resistivity as x increases above similar to 1.5% is associated with a decrease in carrier mobility with no further increase in carrier concentration; it suggests that the additional Si atoms are not only electrically inactive but also act as electron trapping centers suggesting that they are not well incorporated in the ZnO structure. Such observation well agrees with the decrease in crystallinity observed with Si content leading to amorphous films for x as low as 1%, when deposited on glass substrate. Finally, a resistivity as low as 3.3x10(-4) Omega cm is reported for S(1.5)ZO thin films deposited at 100 degrees C. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.