Thin Solid Films, Vol.422, No.1-2, 180-185, 2002
Structure and characteristics of ZnO : Al/n-Si heterojunctions prepared by magnetron sputtering
Aluminium-doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Al) films were deposited by RF magnetron sputtering on single-crystal n-Si substrates to form ZnO:Al/n-Si heterojunctions. The structure of the ZnO:Al films was analysed by X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The structural properties of the ZnO:Al/n-Si junction were studied by transmission electron microscopy. The electrical junction properties were characterised by current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) methods. The conductance measured shows a room-temperature turn-on voltage of 0.2-0.4 V The ideality factor and the junction built-in potential deduced from I-V and C-V plots are 1.62 and 0.56 V at room temperature, respectively. Temperature-dependent dark forward current vs. voltage measurements suggest that trap-assisted multistep tunnelling is the dominant carrier transport mechanism in this heterojunction.