The Transparent Conductive Properties of Manganese-Doped Zinc Oxide Films Deposited by Chemical Bath Deposition

• Published in: Journal of electronic materials 2012, Vol.41 (1), p.122-129
• Main Authors: Fang, J.S., Luo, W.H., Hsu, C.H., Yang, J.C., Tsai, T.K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Annealing; Applied sciences; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemicals; Chemistry and Materials Science; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Conductivity; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Deposition; Electrical resistivity; Electronics; Electronics and Microelectronics; Exact sciences and technology; Instrumentation; Liquid phase epitaxy; deposition from liquid phases (melts, solutions, and surface layers on liquids); Magnetic properties; Magnetic properties and materials; Magnetic properties of monolayers and thin films; Magnetic properties of surface, thin films and multilayers; Magnetoelectric, magnetostrictive, magnetoacoustic, magnetooptic and magnetothermal devices. Spintronics; Manganese; Manganese compounds; Materials Science; Methods of deposition of films and coatings; film growth and epitaxy; Optical and Electronic Materials; Optical properties; Optical properties and condensed-matter spectroscopy and other interactions of matter with particles and radiation; Optical properties of bulk materials and thin films; Physics; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Semiconductors; Solid State Physics; Thin films; Zinc oxide; Zinc oxides
• ISSN: 0361-5235; 1543-186X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11664-011-1770-2

Manganese-doped zinc oxide (Mn-doped ZnO) thin films were prepared using chemical bath deposition (CBD), and the impacts of the manganese dopant concentration on the structure, electrical resistivity, optical transmission, and magnetic properties were investigated using x-ray diffractometry, Hall-effect measurements, ultraviolet–visible–near-infrared (UV–Vis–IR) spectrophotometry, and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM), respectively. The concentration of the manganese dopant in the ZnO thin film critically impacted the resulting properties, and the 4.0 at.% Mn-doped ZnO film had a resistivity of 5.8 × 10 −2  Ωcm, transmittance of 75.6% in the visible light range, and bandgap of 3.30 eV when the film was annealed at 600°C in an Ar + H 2 atmosphere. Annealing the film could enhance its magnetic properties such that the film had a saturation magnetization of 21.0 emu/cm 3 and a coercivity of 45.7 Oe after annealing at 600°C. Because of these electrical, optical, and magnetic properties, Mn-doped thin films are promising for use in spintronic devices.