Work

Reversing doping asymmetry in semiconductor thin films with external voltage

Year: 2023

Type: article

Abstract: Doping asymmetry is a notable phenomenon with semiconductors and a particularly long-standing challenge limiting the applications of most wide band-gap semiconductors, which are inherent of spontaneous heavy $n$- or $p$-type doping because of their extreme band edges. This study theoretically shows that by applying a proper external voltage on materials during their growth or doping processes, we can largely tune the band edges and consequently reverse the doping asymmetry in semiconductor thin films. We take zinc oxide as a touchstone and computationally demonstrate that this voltage-assisted doping approach efficiently suppresses the spontaneous $n$-type defects by around four orders under three distinct growth conditions and successfully generates $p$-type zinc oxide up to the lowest acceptor levels. The proposed approach is insensitive to materials, growth conditions, or defects origins, and thus offers a general solution to the doping asymmetry in semiconductor thin films.

Source: Physical review. B./Physical review. B

DOI: 10.1103/physrevb.108.035204

Authors: Kai Liu, Zhibin Yi, Guangfu Luo

Institutions: Southern University of Science and Technology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory Of Computational Science And Material Design

Language: English

Topic: ZnO doping and properties

Subfield: Materials Chemistry

Field: Materials Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen Municipal Science and Technology Innovation Council, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory Of Computational Science And Material Design

Awards: G1210117574, G2124539424, G3797420940