Au and Ag Schottky contacts on the epiready (0001)Zn surface of bulk n-ZnO crystals show Schottky barrier heights of 0.65–0.70 eV from capacitance–voltage measurements, activation energies for reverse saturation currents of 0.3–0.4 eV and saturation current densities ranging from 10−5 A cm−2 on surfaces etched in HCl to 8×10−7 A cm−2 on solvent cleaned samples. The diode ideality factors were in the range 1.6–1.8 under all conditions. The properties of both the Au and the Ag Schottky diodes were degraded by heating in vacuum to temperatures even as low as 365 K. The degradation mechanisms during annealing were different in each case, with the Au showing reaction with the ZnO surface and the Ag contacts showing localized delamination. Mechanical polishing of the ZnO surface prior to contact deposition produced a high-resistivity damaged layer with prominent deep level defects present with activation energies of 0.55 and 0.65 eV.

In the present study, we have examined the interaction between a suspension of graphene in dimethylformamide and an aqueous solution of hydrofluoric acid, which was found to result in partial fluorination of suspension flakes. A considerable decrease in the thickness and lateral size of the graphene flakes (up to 1-5 monolayers in thickness and 100-300 nm in diameter) with increasing duration of fluorination treatment is found to be accompanied by a simultaneous transition of the flakes from the conducting to the insulating state. Smooth and uniform insulating films with a roughness of ∼2 nm and thicknesses down to 20 nm were deposited from the suspension on silicon. The electrical and structural properties of the films suggest their use as insulating elements in thin-film nano- and microelectronic device structures. In particular, it was found that the films prepared from the fluorinated suspension display rather high breakdown voltages (field strength of (1-3) × 10(6) V cm(-1)), ultralow densities of charges in the film and at the interface with the silicon substrate in metal-insulator-semiconductor structures (∼(1-5) × 10(10) cm(-2)). Such excellent characteristics of the dielectric film can be compared only to well-developed SiO2 layers. The films from the fluorinated suspension are cheap, practically feasible and easy to produce.

Electrical and optical properties of undoped n-ZnO crystals implanted with 50 keV protons with doses from 5×1013 to 5×1015 cm−2 are reported. Proton implantation leads to a decrease of the carrier concentration in the near-surface region, but at the end of the proton range shallow donors are observed whose concentration tracks the implant dose and that we attribute to hydrogen donors. Three deep electron traps with apparent activation energies of 0.55, 0.75, and 0.9 eV are introduced by proton implantation. The 0.9 eV traps have been observed through the increased thermal stability of the Schottky diodes prepared on heavily implanted n-ZnO compared to unimplanted or lightly implanted samples. In addition, hole traps located 0.16 eV above the valence band edge were introduced by implantation. Proton implantation also led to the formation of persistent-photocapacitance-active defects and to considerable decrease in the intensity of the band edge luminescence and in the value of the photocurrent of the Au/n-ZnO Schottky diodes. When compared with other wide-band gap materials, such as GaN, the recombination properties of n-ZnO are shown to be more resistant to deterioration upon proton implantation.

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