Effect of Li-doped concentration on the structure, optical and electrical properties of p-type ZnO thin films prepared by sol-gel method

Li-doped ZnO thin films were deposited on n-type Si(100) substrates with sol-gel method. Then the deposited ones were analyzed in the X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results show that these films have polycrystalline wurtzite-structure and high c-axis preferred orientation. The analyses on the deposited thin films tested in the Hall measurements at room temperature show that these thin films are p-type electrical conductivity. The optimized results obtained at 15.0 at.% Li-doped concentration are 1.10 Omega cm, in electrical resistivity, 10.70 cm(2)/V s in Hall mobility and 5.32 x 10(18) cm(-3) in hole concentration, respectively. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra show that these thin films have strong emission near ultraviolet (UV) and violet light. However, the defect-related deep level emission is weak in visible regions. The effects of Li-doping; concentration on the structural, optical and electrical properties are discussed as well in this paper. Published by Elsevier B.V.