Change of scattering mechanism and annealing out of defects on Ga-doped ZnO films deposited by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering

Abstract

This study examines the change of carrier scattering mechanism and defects states in Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) thin films deposited by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering as a function of the substrate temperature (Ts) during deposition. The GZO films deposited at room temperature exhibited a high defect density that resulted in a lower carrier concentration, lower Hall mobility, and optical absorption in visible wavelength range. Such defects were created by ion bombardment and were eliminated by increasing the Ts. The defects related to the optical absorption disappeared at a Ts of 125 °C. The defects responsible for the suppression of the carrier concentration gradually decreased with increasing Ts up to 200 °C. As a result, the carrier concentration and in-grain carrier mobility gradually increased. The Hall mobility was also influenced by film structural properties depending on the Ts. In addition to the c-axis preferred orientation, other oriented grains such as the (101¯1) plane parallel to the substrate surface appeared below 150 °C. This orientation of the (101¯1) plane significantly reduced the Hall mobility via grain boundary scattering. The films deposited at a Ts higher than 175 °C exhibited perfect c-axis orientation and grain boundary scattering was thus negligible in these films. The appearance of the 101¯1 peak in x-ray diffraction profile was correlated with the contribution of grain boundary scattering in heavily doped GZO films.