PEMOCVD of ZnO thin films, doped by Ga and some of their properties

Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a promising semiconductor material with a great variety of applications, for example for highly conductive films for transparent electronics. Recently, Ga has been proposed as a dopant, exhibiting the advantages of a very similar atomic radius compared to Zn, a smaller reactivity, and a higher resistivity to oxidation compared to its competitor Al. In this study ZnO films, doped by Ga, were produced on Al2O3(0001) substrates by PEMOCVD. The doping was realized with 1, 3, 5 and 10 wt% gallium precursor content in the mixture. The resistivity of the prepared films, as well as the morphology and the transmittance, was investigated. All the deposited films have demonstrated a high optical transmittance above 93% in the range between 400 and 800 nm. A strong correlation between the electrical resistivity and the optical band gap depending on the Ga content was observed. An AFM analysis demonstrated highly uniform and smooth surfaces. The average grain size and route mean square roughness decreased with increasing Ga content.