Photophysical investigation of the formation of defect levels in P doped ZnO thin films

• Published in: Ceramics international 2022-07, Vol.48 (14), p.20000-20009
• Main Authors: Mondal, Sourav, Basak, Durga
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Donor-acceptor compensation; Native defects; P doped ZnO thin film; Photoconductivity
• ISSN: 0272-8842; 1873-3956
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ceramint.2022.03.275

Zinc oxide (ZnO) offers a major disadvantage of asymmetry doping in terms of reliability, stability, and reproducibility of p-type doping, which is the main hindrance in realization of optoelectronic devices. The problem is even more complicated due to formation of various native defects in unintentionally doped n-type ZnO. The realization of p-type conductivity in doped ZnO requires an in-depth understanding of the formation of an effective shallow acceptor, as well as donor-acceptor compensation. Photophysical properties such as photoconductivity along with photoluminescence (PL) studies have unprecedentedly and effectively been utilized in this work to monitor the evolution of various in-gap defects. Phosphorus (P) doped ZnO thin films have been grown by RF magnetron sputtering under various Ar to O2 gas ratios to investigate the effect of O2 on the donor-acceptor compensation by comprehensive photoconductivity measurements supported by the PL studies. Initial elemental analyses indicate presence of abundant zinc vacancies (VZn) in O-rich ambience. The results predict that P sits in the zinc (Zn) site rather than the oxygen (O) site causing the formation of PZn–2VZn acceptor-like defects, which compensates the donor defects in P doped ZnO films. Photocurrent spectra uniquely reveal presence of more oxygen vacancies (VO) defects states in lower O2 flow, which gets compensated with an increase in the O2 flow. Successive photocurrent transients indicate probable presence of more VO in the films grown with lower O2 flow and more VZn in higher O2 flow. Overall the photosensitivity measurements clearly present that O-rich ambience expedites the formation of acceptor defects which are compensated, thereby lowering the dark current and enhancing the ultraviolet photosensitivity.