Carrier transport and bandgap shift in n-type degenerate ZnO thin films: The effect of band edge nonparabolicity

• Published in: Physica. B, Condensed matter Vol. 407; no. 23; pp. 4512 - 4517
• Main Authors: Abdolahzadeh Ziabari, A., Rozati, S.M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier B.V 01.12.2012; Elsevier
• Subjects: Band theory; Bandgap shift; Bursting; Carrier transport; Charge carriers; Condensed matter; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Degenerate thin film; Effective mass; Electrical properties of specific thin films; Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and low-dimensional structures; Exact sciences and technology; Ii-vi semiconductors; Mobility; Nonparabolicity; Optical properties; Physics; Thin films; Zinc oxide; ZnO; Mobility; Bandgap shift; ZnO; Degenerate thin film; Effective mass; Nonparabolicity; Doping; Heavily doped semiconductors; Hall effect; Spectral line shift; Burstein Moss effect; Thin films; Energy gap; Degenerate semiconductor; Zinc oxide; Carrier mobility; Carrier density
• ISSN: 0921-4526; 1873-2135
• DOI: 10.1016/j.physb.2012.08.024

Contribution of band edge nonparabolicity to the charge carrier transport in degenerate n-type zinc oxide thin films has been investigated theoretically in order to understand the fundamental aspects of electron scattering in such thin films regardless of precise details of the preparation procedure. To conduct this, the theoretical evaluated results have been compared to the experimental values taken from literatures. The results indicate that the nonparabolicity (introducing through effective mass of charge carriers) has a strong effect on the total mobility of carriers in zinc oxide films so that a satisfactory agreement with experimental data is fulfilled. The dependence of nonparabolicity on bandgap shift is also discussed. Studying the optoelectronic properties of numerous moderately and heavily doped samples revealed that their optical bandgap has lower blueshift than the theoretical value obtained from the well-known Burstein–Moss effect. So, the observed bandgap shift was dependent on the carrier concentration and the total shift of bandgap was evaluated by combining the Burstein–Moss and bandgap narrowing effects. Two different cases were also examined; parabolic and nonparabolic (modified) Burstein–Moss effects. The results show that the modified Burstein–Moss effect leads to great agreement with experimental data.