AVS 53rd International Symposium
    Electronic Materials and Processing Tuesday Sessions
       Session EM-TuM

Invited Paper EM-TuM3
Synthesis and Characterization of ZnO Thin Films

Tuesday, November 14, 2006, 8:40 am, Room 2003

Session: Zinc Oxide
Presenter: T.J. Coutts, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Authors: T.J. Coutts, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
X. Li, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
T.M. Barnes, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
J.N. Duenow, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
C.L. Perkins, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
S.E. Asher, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
B.M. Keyes, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
T.A. Gessert, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
S. Zhang, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Correspondent: Click to Email
N-type ZnO has great promise as a transparent conducting oxide and possibly has the potential to replace indium tin oxide for some applications. The high cost of indium may make it vital to find a replacement for indium tin oxide. ZnO is commonly used as an n-type material but vigorous efforts have also been made in recent years to fabricate p-type thin films. As an n-type material, it already plays an important role in some thin-film solar cells and it may also have the potential to be valuable in flat-panel displays. P-ZnO may have a role to play in solid-state lighting, UV/blue LEDs and lasers, novel solar cell designs and the generation of hydrogen by the splitting of water using light. However, p-type thin films, with relatively high hole concentrations, have been difficult to fabricate, are irreproducible, have low hole mobilities, and tend to be unstable. Nevertheless, efforts continue because of the potential commercial importance. In this paper, we discuss our work on the development of n-ZnO films, fabricated by sputtering, using aluminum, hydrogen and other, less familiar, dopants. The need for high mobility, via higher quality films, remains vital and is being explored using alternative dopants, by alternative growth methods and by optimizing the growth conditions. In addition, we discuss our work on the fabrication of p-ZnO, for which we used both low-pressure metal organic chemical vapor deposition and plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. We used both nitric and nitrous oxides as dopants. The films were characterized using SIMS, FTIR, XPS and other techniques. We discuss progress and mechanisms of compensation that account for the relatively low hole concentrations observed. @FootnoteText@ This abstract is subject to government rights.