Fermi Level Tuning of ZnO Films Through Supercycled Atomic Layer Deposition

A novel supercycled atomic layer deposition (ALD) process which combines thermal ALD process with in situ O₂ plasma treatment is presented in this work to deposit ZnO thin films with highly tunable electrical properties. Both O₂ plasma time and the number of thermal ALD cycles in a supercycle can be adjusted to achieve fine tuning of film resistivity and carrier concentration up to six orders of magnitude without extrinsic doping. The concentration of hydrogen defects are believed to play a major role in adjusting the electrical properties of ZnO films. Kelvin probe force microscopy results evidently show the shift of Fermi level in different ZnO films and are well associated with the changing of carrier concentration. This reliable and robust technique reported here clearly points towards the capability of using this method to produce ZnO films with controlled properties in different applications.