Electrical and optical properties of zinc oxide thin films deposited using atomic layer deposition

Abstract

Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films were deposited using atomic layer deposition. The electrical and optical properties were characterized using Hall measurements, spectroscopic ellipsometry and UV-visible spectrophotometry. The electronic concentration and the mobility were found to be critically dependent on the deposition temperature, exhibiting increased resistivity and reduced electronic mobility at low temperature. The corresponding optical properties were measured as a function of photon energy ranging from 1.5 to 5.0 eV. The simulated extinction coefficients allowed the determination of optical band gaps, i.e., ranging from 3.36 to 3.41 eV. The electronic carrier concentration appears to be related to the reduction in the corresponding band gap in ZnO thin films.