The structural, optical, and electrical properties of ZnO are intimately intertwined. In the present work, the structural and transport properties of 100 nm thick polycrystalline ZnO films obtained by atomic layer deposition (ALD) at a growth temperature (Tg) of 100-300 °C were investigated. The electrical properties of the films showed a dependence on the substrate (a-Al2O3 or Si (100)) and a high sensitivity to Tg, related to the deviation of the film stoichiometry as demonstrated by the RT-Hall effect. The average crystallite size increased from 20-30 nm for as grown samples to 80-100 nm after rapid thermal annealing, which affects carrier scattering. The ZnO layers deposited on silicon showed lower strain and dislocation density than on sapphire at the same Tg. The calculated half crystallite size (D/2) was higher than the Debye length (LD) for all as grown and annealed ZnO films, except for annealed ZnO/Si films grown within the ALD window (100-200 °C), indicating different homogeneity of charge carrier distribution for annealed ZnO/Si and ZnO/a-Al2O3 layers. For as grown films the hydrogen impurity concentration detected via secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) was 1021 cm-3 and was decreased by two orders of magnitude after annealing, accompanied by a decrease in Urbach energy in the ZnO/a-Al2O3 layers.
Keywords: atomic layer deposition; defect engineering; dislocation density; electrical properties; strain; zinc oxide.