ZINC OXIDE-BASED THIN FILM ELECTRONICS

Abstract

Growth and characterization of Group III-doped (gallium and aluminium doped) zinc oxide (ZnO) and the applications of such oxides are presented. The focus in this study is on optimizing room temperature growth of the thin films on low-cost substrates such as glass and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) using the pulsed laser deposition technique. Substrate temperature and thickness effects on these films were also examined. A transparency index was introduced to standardize the quantification of the transparency of the films. Room temperature deposited films have resistivity of ~10-4 ¿-cm and carrier mobility of 10 cm2/V-s or greater. A structure consisting of multi-layers of doped ZnO sandwiching a metallic (silver) layer was also investigated. To demonstrate doped ZnO in photovoltaics, sensing and transistor applications, work have been carried out on investigating the band alignment of the cuprous oxide/(gallium) ZnO heterojunction, investigating the effect of using transparent and non-transparent electrodes on a photo-sensing ZnO device and investigating the band alignment of ZnO/hafnium oxide in a transistor structure.