Contacts to ZnO

A review is given of Ohmic and Schottky contacts to n- and p-type ZnO. It is relatively straightforward to form high-quality Ohmic contacts to n-type ZnO, with specific contacts resistivity in the range 10−6 Ω cm2 even for unnannealed contacts on strongly n-type layers, while recent work has also shown good results (10−5–10−6 Ω cm2) for Au or Ni/Au annealed at 300–600 °C. Schottky contacts to both n- and p-type ZnO are much lower than expected from the metal work function and the electron affinity of ZnO, suggesting that surface states are important in determining the effective barrier height. The Schottky contacts also show poor thermal stability. For transparent transistors based on ZnO, this suggests that oxide gates are more suitable than metal gates.