We have fabricated boron ion-implanted ZnO thin films by ion implantation into sputtered ZnO thin films on a glass substrate. An investigation of the effects of ion doses and activation time on the electrical and optical properties of the films has been made. The electrical sheet resistance and resistivity of the implanted films are observed to increase with increasing rapid thermal annealing (RTA) time, while decreasing as the ion dose increases. Without any RTA process, the variation of the carrier density is insensitive to the ion dose. With the RTA process, however, the carrier density of the implanted films increases and approaches that of the un-implanted ZnO film as the ion dose increases. On the other hand, the carrier mobility is shown to decrease with increasing ion doses when no RTA process is applied. With the RTA process, however, there is almost no change in the mobility. We have achieved the optical transmittance as high as 87% within the visible wavelength range up to 800 nm. It is also demonstrated that the work function can be engineered by changing the ion dose during the ion implantation process. We have found that the work function decreases as the ion dose increases.
To confirm the possibility of engineering the work function of ZnO thin films, we have implanted phosphorus ions into ZnO thin films deposited by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering. The fabricated films show n-type characteristics. It is shown that the electrical and optical properties of those thin films vary depending sensitively on the ion dose and rapid thermal annealing time. Compared to as-deposited ZnO films, the work-function of phosphorus ion-implanted ZnO thin films is observed to be lower and decreases with increasing ion doses. It is likely that the zinc or oxygen vacancies are firstly filled with the implanted phosphorus ions. With further increased ions, free electrons are generated as Zn2+ sites are replaced by those ions or interstitial phosphorus ions increase at the lattice sites, the fermi level by which approaches the conduction band and thus the work function decreases. Those films exhibit the optical transmittance higher than 85% within the visible wavelength range (up to 800 nm).
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