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Quantifying charge carrier concentration in ZnO thin films by Scanning Kelvin Probe Microscopy

In the last years there has been a renewed interest for zinc oxide semiconductor, mainly triggered by its prospects in optoelectronic applications. In particular, zinc oxide thin films are being widely used for photovoltaic applications, in which the determination of the electrical conductivity is o...

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Autores principales: Maragliano, C., Lilliu, S., Dahlem, M. S., Chiesa, M., Souier, T., Stefancich, M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3935190/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24569599
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep04203
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author Maragliano, C.
Lilliu, S.
Dahlem, M. S.
Chiesa, M.
Souier, T.
Stefancich, M.
author_facet Maragliano, C.
Lilliu, S.
Dahlem, M. S.
Chiesa, M.
Souier, T.
Stefancich, M.
author_sort Maragliano, C.
collection PubMed
description In the last years there has been a renewed interest for zinc oxide semiconductor, mainly triggered by its prospects in optoelectronic applications. In particular, zinc oxide thin films are being widely used for photovoltaic applications, in which the determination of the electrical conductivity is of great importance. Being an intrinsically doped material, the quantification of its doping concentration has always been challenging. Here we show how to probe the charge carrier density of zinc oxide thin films by Scanning Kelvin Probe Microscopy, a technique that allows measuring the contact potential difference between the tip and the sample surface with high spatial resolution. A simple electronic energy model is used for correlating the contact potential difference with the doping concentration in the material. Limitations of this technique are discussed in details and some experimental solutions are proposed. Two-dimensional doping concentration images acquired on radio frequency-sputtered intrinsic zinc oxide thin films with different thickness and deposited under different conditions are reported. We show that results inferred with this technique are in accordance with carrier concentration expected for zinc oxide thin films deposited under different conditions and obtained from resistivity and mobility measurements.
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spelling pubmed-39351902014-02-26 Quantifying charge carrier concentration in ZnO thin films by Scanning Kelvin Probe Microscopy Maragliano, C. Lilliu, S. Dahlem, M. S. Chiesa, M. Souier, T. Stefancich, M. Sci Rep Article In the last years there has been a renewed interest for zinc oxide semiconductor, mainly triggered by its prospects in optoelectronic applications. In particular, zinc oxide thin films are being widely used for photovoltaic applications, in which the determination of the electrical conductivity is of great importance. Being an intrinsically doped material, the quantification of its doping concentration has always been challenging. Here we show how to probe the charge carrier density of zinc oxide thin films by Scanning Kelvin Probe Microscopy, a technique that allows measuring the contact potential difference between the tip and the sample surface with high spatial resolution. A simple electronic energy model is used for correlating the contact potential difference with the doping concentration in the material. Limitations of this technique are discussed in details and some experimental solutions are proposed. Two-dimensional doping concentration images acquired on radio frequency-sputtered intrinsic zinc oxide thin films with different thickness and deposited under different conditions are reported. We show that results inferred with this technique are in accordance with carrier concentration expected for zinc oxide thin films deposited under different conditions and obtained from resistivity and mobility measurements. Nature Publishing Group 2014-02-26 /pmc/articles/PMC3935190/ /pubmed/24569599 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep04203 Text en Copyright © 2014, Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
spellingShingle Article
Maragliano, C.
Lilliu, S.
Dahlem, M. S.
Chiesa, M.
Souier, T.
Stefancich, M.
Quantifying charge carrier concentration in ZnO thin films by Scanning Kelvin Probe Microscopy
title Quantifying charge carrier concentration in ZnO thin films by Scanning Kelvin Probe Microscopy
title_full Quantifying charge carrier concentration in ZnO thin films by Scanning Kelvin Probe Microscopy
title_fullStr Quantifying charge carrier concentration in ZnO thin films by Scanning Kelvin Probe Microscopy
title_full_unstemmed Quantifying charge carrier concentration in ZnO thin films by Scanning Kelvin Probe Microscopy
title_short Quantifying charge carrier concentration in ZnO thin films by Scanning Kelvin Probe Microscopy
title_sort quantifying charge carrier concentration in zno thin films by scanning kelvin probe microscopy
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3935190/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24569599
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep04203
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