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First principle calculations and opto-electric enhancement in laser ablated GZO thin films

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Abstract

Optical and electrical properties of Ga-doped Zinc Oxide (GZO) has been studied in the present article. Density functional theory and Hubbard U (DFT + Ud + Up) based first principle calculations were employed for theoretical estimation whereas Laser ablation method has been used to fabricate GZO thin films on p-GaN, Al2O3 and p-Si substrate for experimental analysis. Single crystal growth of GZO thin films with (002) preferred crystallographic orientation has been shown in X-ray diffraction graphs. The elemental composition of all samples has been studied via EDS (energy dispersive X-ray) spectroscopy, no other unwanted impurity related peaks were found which indicates the impurity-free growth of GZO. Noodle, seed and granular-like structures of GZO/GaN, GZO/Al2O3, and GZO/Si have been revealed via Field-emission scanning electron microscopy micrographs respectively. The morphological analysis suggested GaN substrate as the best candidate for uniform and better quality GZO thin films. Highest carrier mobility (53 cm2/V s) with higher carrier concentration (> 1020 cm−3) has been found with low (1800) laser shots. Fivefold photoluminescence enhancement in the noodle-like structure of GZO/GaN with compared to GZO/Al2O3 and GZO/Si has been recorded. As the noodle-like structure supposed to be a more favorable structure for enhanced optical properties of GZO which points toward shape-driven optical properties. Theoretical (3.539 eV) and experimental (3.43, 3.6 eV) values of band-gap were found quite comparable. Moreover, lowest resistivity (3.5 × 10−4 Ω cm) with 80% transmittance is evident for GZO as a successful alternate of ITO.

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Acknowledgements

The funding of this project is supported by national natural science foundation of China (NSFC) Project No. (11374031) and Chinese scholarship Council collectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Laser Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, 100124, People’s Republic of China

    Ali Hassan, Feng Chao, Yuhua Jin & Yijian Jiang

  2. College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, 100124, People’s Republic of China

    Yuhua Jin

  3. Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, People’s Republic of China

    Muhammad Irfan

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  1. Ali Hassan
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  2. Feng Chao
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  3. Yuhua Jin
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  4. Muhammad Irfan
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Correspondence to Ali Hassan.

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Hassan, A., Chao, F., Jin, Y. et al. First principle calculations and opto-electric enhancement in laser ablated GZO thin films. Opt Quant Electron 50, 143 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-018-1419-y

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