Van der Pauw Hall Measurement on Intended Doped ZnO Films for p-Type Conductivity

A Van der Pauw Hall measurement is performed on the intended doped ZnO films （Na doped ZnO） grown by using the molecular beam epitaxial method. All as-grown samples show n-type conductivity, whereas the annealed samples （annealing temperature 900℃） show ambiguous carrier conductivity type （n- and p-type） in the automatic Van der Pauw Hall measurement. A similar result has been observed in Li doped ZnO and in as-doped ZnO films by other groups before. However, by tracing the Hall voltage in the Van der Pauw Hall measurement, it is found that this alternative appearance of both n- and p-type conductivity is not intrinsic behavior of the intended doped ZnO films, but is due to the persistent photoconductivity effect in ZnO. The persistent photoconductivity effect would strongly affect the accurate determination of the carrier conductivity type of a highly resistive intended doped ZnO sample.     

Co-occurrence of Dominant Direct and Indirect Transitions in Low Temperature Sputtered Indium Tin Oxide Thin Films on Polymers

Indium tin oxide （ITO） layers are prepared on polymethylmethacrylate and polyethylene terephthalate by rf- magnetron sputtering at room temperature. Their 3D-AFM images and visible transmittance spectra are contrastively characterized and studied. An interesting morphological effect of the polymer substrates on their top ITO layers is observed. Dominant direct and indirect transition types deduced from optical spectra are surprisingly found in ITO films on different polymers. Furthermore, qualitative band structures are figured, and some theoretical discussions about the correlation of optical band structure, interface/surface morphology and carrier density are also presented.     

Magnetic Properties and Magnetoresistance of CdMnS：Au Based Structures Prepared by Co-evaporation

Polycrystalline CdMnS and CdMnS：Au films with hexagonal structure on Si（111） substrates are prepared by co-evaporation, and exhibit ferroelectric and ferromagnetic properties, respectively. Under optimized growth conditions, CdMnS：Au samples with an average crystallite size of 90nm and Mn concentration of 5.0at.% are obtained, and an all-semiconductor spin valve device of Co/Au/CdMnS：Au/CdMnS/Pt is fabricated. Electrical measurement of the device reveals the clear dependence of resistance on applied magnetic field, with a relative magnetoresistance of 0.06% and a switching field of 100 Oe at 77K.     

Effect of Zn Interstitials on Enhancing Ultraviolet Emission of ZnO Films Deposited by MOCVD

ZnO films are grown on Si （111） substrates by a metal organic chemical vapor deposition method. Samples with different stoichiometric composition of Zn and 0 are obtained by varying Ⅱ/Ⅵ molar ratio between 3 and 1/3 in precursors. The x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and photoluminescenee results show that the ultraviolet emission enhances with the increasing Zn/O composition ratio of the samples. It is suggested that the supertfluous Zn atoms pile up at interstitial positions to form Zn interstitial defects. The radiated recombination of the coupling of free exeitons with donor Zn interstitial enhances the ultraviolet emission of the samples.     

Composition-Dependent Characterization of Sb2Te3 Thin Films Prepared by Ion Beam Sputtering Deposition

The optimization of ion beam sputtering deposition process for Sb2 Te3 thin films deposited on BK7 glass substrates is reported. The influence of composition ratio on the thermoelectric properties is investigated. X-ray diffraction shows that the major diffraction peaks of the films match with those of Sb2 Te3. Hall effect and Seebeck coefficient measurement reveal that all the samples are of p-type. The Sb2 Te3 thin films exhibit the Seebeck coefficient of 190μVk^-1 and the electrical conductivity of 1.1 × 10^3 Scm^-1 when the atomic ratio of Sb to Te is 0.65. Carrier concentration and motility of the films increase with the increasing atomic ratio of Sb to Te. The Sb2 Tea film with a maximum power factor of 2.26×10^-3 Win^-1K^-2 is achieved when annealed at 400℃. Raman measurement shows that the main peaks are at about 120 cm^-1, 252 cm^-1 and 450 cm^-1, in agreement with those of V-VI compound semiconductors.     

Influence of O2 Flux on Compositions and Properties of ITO Films Deposited at Room Temperature by Direct-Current Pulse Magnetron Sputtering

Indium tin oxide （ITO） films were deposited on glass substrates at room temperature by dc pulse magnetron sputtering. Varying 02 flux, ITO films with different properties are obtained. Both x-ray diffractometer and x-ray photoelectron spectrometer are used to study the change of crystalline structures and bonding structures of ITO films, respectively. Electrical properties are measured by four-point probe measurements. The results indicate that the chemical structures and compositions of ITO films strongly depend on the O2 flux. With increasing O2 flux, ITO films display better crystallization, which could decrease the resistivity of films. On the contrary, ITO films contain less O vacancies with increasing O2 flux, which could worsen the conductive properties of films. Without any heat treatment onto the samples, the resistivity of the ITO film could reach 6.0 × 10^-4 Ω·cm, with the optimal deposition parameter of 0.2 scem O2 flux.     

Influences of Interface States on Resistive Switching Properties of TiOx with Different Electrodes

Different TiOx thin films prepared by graded or sufficient oxidization of Ti are applied with Pt or Ag electrode in metal？insulator-metal （MIM） structures for studying the properties and mechanisms of resistive switching. The differences on the mobile oxygen vacancies in TiOx films and different work functions of the electrode films result in different insulator-metal interface states, which are displayed as ohmic-like or non-ohmic contact. Based on the interface states, the electrical models for MIM devices are analyzed and extracted. The electrode-limited effect and the bulk-limited effect can be unified to explain the mechanisms for resistive switching behavior as the dominant effect respectively in various conditions. All the current-voltage curves of the four kinds of specimens measured in the experiments can be explained and proved in accordance with the theory.     

Laser Damage Mechanisms of Amorphous Ta2O5 Films at 1064, 532 and 355nm in One-on-One Regime

Ta2O5 films are deposited on fused silica substrates by conventional e-beam evaporation. Surface topography and chemical composition are examined by atomic force microscopy （AFM） and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS）. The calculation of electron structures of Ta2O5 and Ta2O5-x is attempted using a first-principle pseudopotential method within the local density approximation. The laser-induced damage threshold （LIDT） is performed at 1064, 532 and 355 nm in 1-on-1 regime, respectively. The results show that the LIDT increases with the wavelength increasing, which is in agreement with the wavelength effect. However, the LIDT results are not consistent with the empirical equation （I（λ）=aλm）, which may be attributed to the intrinsic absorption of Ta2O5 at the wavelengths of 532 or/and 355 nm. Moreover, different damage morphologies are observed when the films are irradiated at different wavelengths. It is concluded that the laser damage at 1064 nm is the defect dominant mechanism and at 355 nm it is the intrinsic absorption dominant mechanism, whereas at 532 nm it is the combined defect and intrinsic absorption dominant mechanism.     

Effect of Different Substrate Temperature on Sb-Doped ZnO Thin Films Prepared by Pulsed Laser Deposition on Sapphire Substrates

Sb-doped ZnO thin films are deposited on c-plane sapphire substrates by pulsed laser deposition. Hall results indicate that the conductivity of the Sb-doped ZnO thin films is strongly dependent on the substrate temperature. The sample deposited at the temperature of 550°C exhibits p-type conductivity. It gives a resistivity of 15.25Ω＆#12539;cm, with a Hall mobility of 1.79cm2V-1s-1 and a carrier concentration of 2.290×1017cm-3 at room temperature. The x-ray diffraction indicates that the Sb-doped ZnO thin films deposited in the range of 450-650°C are high c-axis oriented. Low-temperature photoluminescence spectra indicate that the sample deposited at 550°C shows the strong acceptor-bound exciton （A0X） emission.