Effect of Sb doping on the electrical and dielectric properties of ZnO nanocrystals

Abstract

The effect of antimony doping on electrical and dielectric behaviors of ZnO nanocrystals was investigated using impedance spectroscopy. The XRD diffractograms suggest that the ZnO lattice parameters are closely affected by Sb doping. The electrical conductivity of the ZnO nanocrystals depends obviously on the Sb amount. The variations of the resistivity and the dc conductivity with varied Sb content were correlated to lattice parameters variations and are consistent with the compensation phenomenon between electrons and holes which eventually induced by the appearance of p-type conductivity in the Sb-doped ZnO. The dielectric constants and the loss tangent were found to decrease with Sb amounts. Low values of dielectric loss with Sb doping suggest that Sb-doped ZnO is suitable way for low frequency devices applications. The study of the electrical modulus provided some evidence that the dielectric relaxation is thermally activated and reveals a spread in relaxation time for low Sb concentrations.