Formation and evolution of E3 centers in hydrothermally grown zinc oxide. (October 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hupfer, A.; Bhoodoo, C.; Vines, L.; Svensson, B.G.
• Is Part Of: Materials science in semiconductor processing. Volume 69(2017)
• Page Start: 13
• Page End: 18
• Publication Date: 2017-10
• Subjects: Defects -- ZnO -- DLTS -- Implantation; Semiconductors -- Periodicals; Integrated circuits -- Materials -- Periodicals; Semiconducteurs -- Périodiques; Circuits intégrés -- Matériaux -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 621.38152
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mssp.2017.02.022
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1369-8001

Abstract

Abstract: The formation and evolution of the prominent and so-called E3 center in ZnO has been studied by in-situ deep level transient spectroscopy measurements after on-line implantation of hydrogen (H) and deuterium (D) ions at sample temperatures of ∼ 158 K and ∼ 285 K . The formation of E3 is shown to involve migration and subsequent trapping of interstitial hydrogen (H i ), or deuterium, and starts to occur already below 200 K. The concentration of implantation-induced E3 centers is rather unstable and decreases gradually at temperatures around 300 K by an annealing process obeying first-order kinetics. The process exhibits an activation energy of ∼ 0.85 eV and involves presumably trapping of migrating H i 's leading to passivation of the E3 centers. A kinetics model is presented showing good agreement with the experimental data and where the E3 center is assumed to be a complex between a Zn vacancy and three hydrogen atoms ( H 3 V Zn ) . Further, the concentration of E3 centers is found to decrease rapidly during annealing in forming gas ambient at room temperature and then to recover gradually during subsequent annealing in vacuum, indicating a defect 'core' of the E3 center able to accommodate more than one H atom.