Improvement of transport properties for polycrystalline silicon prepared by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition

The carrier transport property of polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si:H:F) thin films was studied in relation to film microstructure, impurity, in situ or post-annealing treatments to obtain better carrier transport properties. Poly-Si:H:F films were prepared from SiF₄ and H₂ gas mixtures at temperatures <300 °C. Dark conductivity of the films prepared at high SiF₄/H₂ gas flow ratio (e.g., 60/3 sccm) exhibits a high value for intrinsic silicon and its Fermi level is located near the conduction band edge. The carrier incorporation is suppressed well, either by in situ hydrogen plasma treatment or by post-annealing with high-pressure hot-H₂O vapor. It is confirmed that weak-bonded hydrogen atoms are removed by the hot-H₂O vapor annealing. In addition, evident correlation between impurity concentrations and dark conductivity is not found for these films. It is thought that the carrier incorporation in the films prepared at high SiF₄/H₂ gas flow ratios is related to grain-boundary defects such as weak-bonded hydrogen. By applying hot-H₂O vapor annealing at 310 °C to a 1-μm-thick p-doped (400)-oriented poly-Si:H:F film, Hall mobility was improved from 10 cm²/Vs to 17 cm²/Vs. Received: 7 August 2000 / Accepted: 2 March 2001 / Published online: 20 June 2001     

Chemical bath deposition of CdS channel layer for fabrication of low temperature-processed thin-film-transistors

～66 nm thick CdS film with a hexagonal structure was uniformly generated via a low temperature-processed chemical bath deposition at 80 °C using a complexing agent of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and its crystal structure, surface morphology, optical transmittance, and Raman scattering property were measured. Grown CdS film was used as a channel layer for the fabrication of bottom-gate, top-contact thin-film-transistor (TFT). The TFT device with 60 °C-dried channel layer exhibited a poor electrical performance of on-to-off drain current ratio (I_on/I_off) of 5.1 × 10³ and saturated channel mobility (μ_sat) of 0.10 cm²/Vs. However, upon annealing at 350 °C, substantially improved electrical characteristics resulted, showing I_on/I_off of 5.9 × 10⁷ and μ_sat of 5.07 cm²/Vs. Furthermore, CdS channel layer was chemically deposited in an identical way on a transparent substrate of SiN_x/ITO/glass as part of transparent TFT fabrication, resulting in I_on/I_off of 5.8 × 10⁷ and μ_sat of 2.50 cm²/Vs.     

PhotoleitfÄhigkeit von CaWO4-Einkristallen

Photoconductivity has been detected in CaWO₄-single crystals. By means of a pulse method the mobility of the charge carriers could be determined. The very small mobilities (Μ ⁺=0.1 cm²/Vs,Μ ^?≈ 5 cm²/Vs) are explained in the picture of “small polarons”.     

Physical properties of n-CdGeAs2 single crystals prepared by low-temperature crystallization

The first results obtained in studies of the temperature dependences of electrical conductivity and Hall constant of n-CdGeAs₂ single crystals prepared by low-temperature crystallization are reported. It has been established that the method developed permits growing single crystals with a free-electron concentration ⋍(1−2)×10¹⁸ cm⁻³ and a Hall mobility ⋍10000 cm²/(Vs) at T=300 K. It is shown that the temperature dependence of Hall mobility exhibits a behavior characteristic of electron scattering by lattice vibrations, whereas below 150 K a deviation from this law is observed to occur evidencing an increasing contribution of static lattice defects to scattering. The Hall mobility in the crystals prepared was found to reach ⋍36000 cm²/(Vs) at 77 K. Photosensitive heterojunctions based on n-CdGeAs₂ single crystals were prepared. The spectral response of the photosensitivity of these structures is analyzed. It is concluded that this method is promising for preparation of perfect CdGeAs₂ crystals. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 41, 1190–1193 (July 1999)     

Hall effect plateaus and giant Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations in (BiSb)Telayered single crystals near the quantum limit

On bulk layered single crystals (Bi_0.25Sb_0.75)₂Te₃ with a hole concentration cm^-3 and a mobility cm²/Vs magnetoresistance and Hall effect investigations were performed in the temperature range T = 1.4 K ... 20 K in magnetic fields up to 18 T. For the magnetic field perpendicular to the layered structure giant Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations are measured; the positions of the maxima are triplets in the reciprocally scaled magnetic field. From the damping of the amplitudes with increasing temperature the cyclotron mass m _c = 0.12m ₀ is evaluated. Correlated with the SdH oscillations doublets of Hall effect plateaus (or kinks in low fields) are found. The weak well known Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations from the generally accepted multivallied highest valence band can be detected as a modulation on the giant oscillation. The high anisotropy of the SdH oscillations and their triplet structure in connection with the layered crystal structure lead us to suggest that the effects are caused by hole carrier pairing (mediated by the bipolaron mechanism) in quasi 2D sheets parallel to the crystal layer stacks. The measured Hall plateau resistances coincide with the quantum Hall effect values considering the number of layer stacks and the valley degeneracy of the 3D hole carrier reservoir. The ratio of spin splitting to Landau (cyclotron) splitting is observed to be . Received: 12 September 1997 / Revised: 8 January 1998 / Accepted: 22 January 1998     

Electrical and optical properties of ZnO films prepared by sputtering of ZnO targets containing AlN

ZnO films prepared from the ZnO target containing 2% AlN are transparent irrespective of radio frequency (RF) power. The obtained ZnO films have the carrier density of 3.8 × 10²⁰ cm⁻³ or less and the low mobility of 5.3-7.8 cm²/(V s). In the case of 5% AlN target, ZnO films prepared at 40, 60 and 80 W are transparent, whereas ZnO films prepared at 100 and 120 W are colored. As RF power increases from 40 to 120 W, the carrier density increases straightforwardly up to 5.5 × 10²⁰ cm⁻³ at 100 W and is oppositely reduced to 3.2 × 10²⁰ cm⁻³ at 120 W. In the case of 10% AlN target, ZnO films prepared at 60 W or more are colored, and have the carrier density of 4 × 10²⁰ cm⁻³ or less. The N-concentration in these colored films is estimated to be 1% or less. The Al-concentration in the ZnO films prepared from the 5 and 10% AlN targets is higher than 2%. The carrier density of the ZnO films containing Al and N atoms is nearly equal to that of ZnO films doped with Al atoms alone. There is no evidence in supporting the enhancement of the carrier density via the formation of N-Al_xZn_4−x clusters (4 ≥ x ≥ 2).     

Mössbauer spectroscopic studies of spin crossover in tris(N, N′-dialkyldithiocarbamato) iron (III) complexes: effect of alkyl substituents

Spin crossover behavior in tris(N,N′-dialkyldithiocarbamato) iron(III) complexes with varying alkyl groups has been studied by variable temperature magnetic moment and Mössbauer spectral studies. All the complexes may be divided into three broad groups; high spin (μ _eff > 4.8 BM), intermediate spin (μ _eff?=?3.5???4.6 BM) and low spin (μ _eff?< 3.2 B.M). Room temperature (RT) Mössbauer spectra exhibit an asymmetric doublet resolved into two doublets corresponding to high and low spin states. Estimated % contributions of HS and LS states and calculated μ _eff were comparable with the experimentally determined values. It has been shown that some complexes undergo spin crossover, ⁶A₁g→²T₂g whereas others exhibit spin transitions ⁶A₁g →⁴T₁g or ⁴T₁g → ²T₂g. IR spectra show characteristic ν _(Fe???S) bands in the region 208–285 (HS) and 311–380 cm^???1 (LS). Nature of alkyl groups affects the spin state.     

Halleffekt und anisotropie der beweglichkeit der elektronen in ZnO

Hallconstant, conductivity and Hall mobility of ZnO crystals were measured as function of temperature (4 °K < T < 370 °K) and orientation. Value and anisotropy of mobility can be explained (50 °K < T < 370 °K) by polar optical scattering, deformation potential sc., piezoelectric sc. and sc. by ionized impurities. The anisotropy of mobility is caused only by piezoelectric sc. Maximum values of μ_H are reached for μ_H ⊥ c, with 2400 cm²/V sec at 40 °K and for μ_H ¦ c with 1350cm²/Vsec at 60 °. Below 50 °K Hallconstant, conductivity and Hall mobility are influenced by impurity band conduction processes. The crystals have impurity concentration in the 10¹⁶ cm^?3 range, but they show different donor activation energies depending on growth conditions: Type I: 38,4 meV (50 °K < T < 100 °K) and Type II: 20,3 meV (50 °K < T < 100 °K) and 6 meV (25 °K < T < 50 °K).     

Electrical properties of tellurium clusters on the void sublattice of an opal crystal: The important role played by the Te-SiO2 interface

The temperature dependences of electrical resistivity and of the Hall effect of nanocluster tellurium crystals obtained by filling the voids in a dielectric (opal) matrix with a melt of pure and doped Te were studied. The Hall hole concentration p _eff was found to increase anomalously (by more than two orders of magnitude) in a sample prepared from pure Te and cooled to helium temperatures. At T=1.45 K, the hole concentration in this sample was p _eff?6×10¹⁷ cm^?3. At the same time, the Hall effect in this sample was observed to reverse sign at T?200 K from positive for T<200 K to negative at higher temperatures. This implies a low impurity concentration (N _A is less than at least 10¹⁵ cm^?3). A nanocluster crystal of doped Te does not exhibit this anomaly; here, we have p _eff?6×10¹⁷ cm^?3 throughout the temperature region covered, as in the original Te. These features are assigned to the formation of a two-dimensional conducting accumulation layer near the Te-amorphous SiO₂ (the opal material) interface at low temperatures; such a layer determines the low-temperature properties of nanocluster crystals prepared from pure Te. Actually, we obtained a model of a three-dimensional structure formed from a two-dimensional film.     

Electrical properties of n-type vapor-grown gallium nitride

Hall measurements are reported for undoped and Zn-doped vapor-grown single crystal GaN on (0001) Al₂O₃ layers with 298 K carrier concentrations (n-type) between 1·4×10¹⁷cm^?3 and 9×10¹⁹ cm^?3. Then n～10¹⁷ cm^?3 crystals (undoped) have mobilities up to μ～440 cm²/V sec at 298 K. Their conduction behavior can be described by a two-donor model between 150 and 1225 K and by impurity band transport below 150 K. Crystals with n≥8×10¹⁸ cm^?3 show metallic conduction with no appreciable variation in n or μ between 10 and 298 K.Results of mass spectrographic analyses indicate that the total level of impurities detected is too low to account for the observed electron concentration at the n～10¹⁹ cm^?3 level, and suggest the presence of a high concentration of native donors in these crystals. No significant reduction in carrier concentration was achieved with Zn doping up to concentrations of ～10²⁰ cm^?3 under the growth conditions of the present work, and no evidence was found to indicate that high conductivity p-type behavior may be achieved in GaN. The influence of factors such as growth rate, crystalline perfection and vapor phase composition during growth on the properties of the layers is described.     

TEOS-based low-pressure chemical vapor deposition for gate oxides in 4H–SiC MOSFETs using nitric oxide post-deposition annealing

The use of SiO₂/4H–SiC metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) can be problematic due to high interface state density (D_it) and low field-effect mobility (μ_fe). Here, we present a tetra-ethyl-ortho-silicate (TEOS)-based low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) method for fabricating the gate oxide of 4H–SiC MOSFETs using nitric oxide post-deposition annealing. SiO₂/4H–SiC MOS capacitors and MOSFETs were fabricated using conventional wet and TEOS oxides. The measured effective oxide charge density (Q_eff) and D_it of the TEOS-based LPCVD SiO₂/4H–SiC MOS capacitor with nitridation were 4.27 × 10¹¹ cm⁻² and 2.99 × 10¹¹ cm⁻²eV⁻¹, respectively. We propose that the oxide breakdown field and barrier height were dependent on the effective Q_eff. The measured μ_fe values of the SiO₂/4H–SiC MOSFETs with wet and TEOS oxides after nitridation were, respectively, 11.0 and 17.8 cm²/V due to the stable nitrided interface between SiO₂ and 4H–SiC. The proposed gate stack is suitable for 4H–SiC power MOSFETs.     

Anomalous mobility enhancement in Si doping superlattices

Enhanced Hall mobility has been measured in Si doping superlattices with pipi or nini doping profiles grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Although the carrier concentration is large, in the range of 10¹⁸cm⁻³, the mobility of holes in the pipi doping superlattice has the temperature dependence such as that expressed in the T^−2.2 law which is characteristic of high purity bulk crystals. The hole mobility is about twice that of high purity crystals, rising up to 40,000 cm²/V.s at about 30 K. In the case that p-type impurity concentration is comparable to n-type impurity concentration, no mobility enhancement is observed and the mobility is anomalously depressed. The mechanisms for drastical change in the mobility of doping superlattices have not yet been clarified.     

Amorphous IZO TTFTs with saturation mobilities exceeding 100 cm2/Vs

In this paper we demonstrate the use of amorphous binary In₂O₃–ZnO oxides simultaneously as active channel layer and as source/drain regions in transparent thin film transistor (TTFT), processed at room temperature by rf sputtering. The TTFTs operate in the enhancement mode and their performances are thickness dependent. The best TTFTs exhibit saturation mobilities higher than 10² cm²/Vs, threshold voltages lower than 6 V, gate voltage swing of 0.8 V/dec and an on/off current ratio of 10⁷. This mobility is at least two orders of magnitude higher than that of conventional amorphous silicon TFTs and comparable to or even better than other polycrystalline semiconductors. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Optical and transport properties of δ-doped pseudomorphic AlGaAs/InGaAs/GaAs structures

We investigate the effects of spacer layer thickness on the optical and transport properties of the n-type-doped pseudomorphic Al_0.30Ga_0.70As/In_0.15Ga_0.85As / GaAs structures. A-doped AlGaAs/InGaAs/GaAs structure with a 6nm spacer layer yields a sheet carrier concentration of 1.5×10¹² cm^–2 at 77K with electron mobility of 6.4×10³ cm²/Vs, 3.11×10⁴ cm²/Vs, and 3.45×10⁴ cm²/Vs at room temperature, 77 and 20K, respectively. The effects of the different scattering mechanisms on luminescence linewidth and electron mobility have also been discussed.     

Nonlinear optical susceptibilities χ of nitridosilicate powders

Nitridosilicates are of interest as novel nonlinear materials due to their extraordinary chemical and thermal stability. Unfortunately, large nitridosilicate single crystals are presently not available for the investigation of their nonlinear optical properties. The first experiments are presented in which an averaged nonlinear susceptibility χ⁽²⁾ for several nitridosilicates is studied by using two different powder techniques, the Kurtz Perry method and the SHEW method (Second Harmonic Wave generated by an Evanescent Wave). We observe nonlinearities of the new materials which are comparable to those of LiIO₃. The highest averaged M_eff=(χ_eff⁽²⁾)²/4n_2ωn_ω² values found are ∼0.9 pm²/V². The refractive indices of the materials are determined to be between n=2 and 3.     

Influence of Na-related defects on ArF laser absorption in CaF2

ArF laser pulse transmission through commercial high purity CaF₂ is determined by measuring the energy of each pulse before and behind the sample up to an incident fluence H of 10 mJ/cm². The steady state transmission of ArF laser pulses decreases with increasing fluence. The related absorption coefficients α ^st(H) are proportional to H and rationalized by effective 1- and 2-photon absorption coefficients 2.4×10^?4 cm^?1≤α ^eff≤16.8×10^?4 cm^?1 and 1.7×10^?9 cm?W^?1≤β ^eff≤9.3×10^?9 cm?W^?1, respectively. The α ^eff and β ^eff values increase with the Na content of the CaF₂ samples as identified by the fluorescence of Na-related M _Na centers at 740 nm. This relation is simulated by a rate equation model describing the ArF laser induced M _Na generation in the dark periods between the laser pulses and their annealing during laser irradiation. M _Na generation starts with intrinsic 2-photon absorption in CaF₂, yielding self-trapped excitons (STE). These pairs of F and H centers move upon thermal activation and the F centers combine with F _Na to form M _Na centers. M _Na annealing occurs by its photo dissociation into a pair of F and F _Na centers.     

High performance Zn–Sn–O thin film transistors with Cu source/drain electrode

Zn–Sn–O (ZTO) thin film transistors (TFTs) were fabricated with a Cu source/drain electrode. Although a reasonably high mobility (μ_FE) of 13.2 cm²/Vs was obtained for the ZTO TFTs, the subthreshold gate swing (SS) and threshold voltage (V_th) of 1.1 V/decade and 9.1 V, respectively, were inferior. However, ZTO TFTs with Ta film inserted as a diffusion barrier, exhibited improved SS and V_th values of 0.48 V/decade and 3.0 V, respectively as well as a high μ_FE value of 18.7 cm²/Vs. The improvement in the Ta‐inserted device was attributed to the suppression of Cu lateral diffusion into the ZTO channel region. (© 2013 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Charge transport in PbMoO<Subscript>4</Subscript> crystals

Dc and ac electrical conductivity of lead molybdate crystals is studied in the temperature range 300–550 K. The electrical conductivity was shown to have electronic (hole) impurity character. The I–V characteristics are typical of a space charge-limited current. The carrier mobility was estimated to be 10^?5 cm² V^?1 sat T=300 K. The results of the study suggest the hopping mechanism of conduction in PbMoO₄ crystals.     

Conductivity peculiarities in epitaxial layers of cadmium selenide

Electrophysical properties are studied in epitaxial cadmium selenide films produced by condensation on common mica and fluorophlogopite substrates over a wide range of substrate temperatures (T_s). It is shown that under conditions close to equilibrium highly perfect layers are produced with charge carrier mobility up to 300 cm²/V · sec and concentration ～ 10¹⁶ cm^?3. The temperature dependence of carrier concentration and mobility are studied in undoped and doped CdSe films. The values of the intercrystallite energy barriers are determined in layers condensed at differing T_s. It is shown that at T_s>630?C the charge carrier diffusion mechanism is close to that of a monocrystal, while for a barrier diffusion mechansim (T_s<630?C) the character of the energy barriers for the cubic and hexagonal phases in CdSe is somewhat different. Donor-level ionization energy and ionized center concentration are determined.     

Ultrapure,high mobility organic photoconductors

This contribution demonstrates that high charge carrier mobility (<400 cm²/Vs) is an inherent property ofultrapure organic molecular crystals at low temperatures. Small concentrations of traps, however, can completely obscure these microscopic transport properties on macroscopic scales. We describe extensive purification procedures with naphthalene and perylene, which led to the observation of high mobilities. At the same time we demonstrate that charge carrier transport measurements are a sensitive tool for the analytical characterization of high purity organic molecular crystals.This work has been presented in part at the VIIth Intern. Conf. on Crystal Growth, Stuttgart (1983)