Hot probe measurements of n-type conduction in Sb-doped ZnO microwires

Abstract

The charge carriers type in antimony-doped ZnO (ZnO:Sb) microwires was studied using the hot probe technique. The wires were grown by a simple thermal evaporation method. Contrary to the expected p-type behavior reported for Sb doped ZnO thin films and nanowires, our hot probe measurements of representative single Sb-doped ZnO wires show a stable n-type behavior. The hot probe technique is a simple and efficient way to determine the charge carrier type from thermoelectric measurements on a single semiconductor wire and could offer an alternative to Hall effect measurements. The technique relies on creating a temperature gradient across the wire (i.e., heating one side of the wire relative to the other) and monitoring the resulting open-circuit voltage between the two ends. We also performed Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy measurements to identify and monitor the elemental composition in these ZnO:Sb wires.

Oxygen sensing with individual ZnO:Sb micro-wires: effects of temperature and light exposure on the sensitivity and stability

“…Yet, the core-shell structure was not observed in these wires [42]. Another previous study found these ZnO:Sb wires to have n-type conduction [43]. Figure 1b is a representative cross-sectional SEM image of a micro-wire, which shows that the ZnO:Sb wires are composed of a core-shell heterojunction.…”

Hot-Probe Characterization of Transparent Conductive Thin Films

“…Zinc oxide, ZnO, is a wide-bandgap semiconductor of class A 2 B 6 with a direct bandgap of width ≈3.4 eV [ 9 ]. To increase the conductivity of ZnO thin films, doping with various material, such as Al, Sn, and other, was used [ 2 , 10 ]. Al-doped ZnO (AZO) is the most widespread transparent conductive coating (TCO) based on the ZnO.…”