Influence of Al doping on the crystal structure,optical properties,and photodetecting performance of ZnO film

The structural,optical,and electrical properties of undoped and Al-doped ZnO films deposited on p-Si(001)substrate were studied using DC-unbalanced magnetron sputtering.This study is motivated by the absence of detail reports concerning the orbital states inducing the optical bandgap(E_g) blueshift.Besides,the influences of Al on the possible modification of point defect and the photodetecting performance are highlighted to offer guidelines for better development in ZnO-based photodetector.It was found that the Al doping reduced the grain size.The doping increased the lattice parameters and slightly decreased the local-symmetry distortion at ZnO_4.From the absorbance spectra,the doping increased Eg of ZnO film(3.28-3.36 eV),induced by the Burstein-Moss effect.From the density-functional calculation,the Burstein-Moss effect induced E_g from the valence band maximum(VBM) to Fermi level located above the lowest Zn 4s conduction state.From the photoluminescence spectra,the undoped film showed the transitions from O vacancy,Zn interstitial,and free-exciton states to the VBM.The doped film showed the transitions from Zn interstitial to O interstitial and few Zn vacancy states at the cost of O vacancies.Moreover,the energy level of free-exciton states slightly decreased.Notably,O interstitials increased the lattice parameters.From the electrical properties,the doping enhanced the ultraviolet-region photo-to-dark-current ratio up to 3.044 V,leading to the photodetecting sensitivity enhancement.This study emphasizes the significant effect of Al doping on the optical absorbance,point-defect evolution,and photodetecting performance of ZnO film for low-voltage ultraviolet photodetector applications.