ZnO as a functional material, a review

Abstract

Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a fascinating wide band gap semiconductor material with many properties that make it widely studied in the material science, physics, chemistry, biochemistry, and solid-state electronics communities. Its transparency, possibility of bandgap engineering, the possibility to dope it into high electron concentrations, or with many transition or rare earth metals, as well as the many structures it can form, all explain the intensive interest and broad applications. This review aims to showcase ZnO as a very versatile material lending itself both to bottom-up and top-down fabrication, with a focus on the many devices it enables, based on epitaxial structures, thin films, thick films, and nanostructures, but also with a significant number of unresolved issues, such as the challenge of efficient p-type doping. The aim of this article is to provide a wide-ranging cross-section of the current state of ZnO structures and technologies, with the main development directions underlined, serving as an introduction, a reference, and an inspiration for future research.