Growth of n-type ZnO thin films by using mixture gas of hydrogen and argon

High-quality oxide semiconductor ZnO thin films were prepared on single-crystal sapphire and LaAlO3 substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) in the mixture gas of hydrogen and argon. Low resistivity n-type ZnO thin films with smoother surface were achieved by deposition at 600°C in 1Pa of the mixture gas. In addition, ferromagnetism was observed in Co-doped ZnO thin films and rectification I-V curves were found in p-GaN/n-ZnO and p-CdTe/n-ZnO heterostructure junctions. The results indicated that using mixture gas of hydrogen and argon in PLD technique was a flexible method for depositing high-quality n-type oxide semiconductor films, especially for the multilayer thin film devices. © 2006 Chin. Phys. Soc. and IOP Publishing Ltd.