Deposition and characterization of highly p-type antimony doped ZnTe thin films

We report deposition of highly p-type antimony doped ZnTe films onto glass substrates using ZnTe and Sb effusion cells in ultra-high-vacuum environment of an MBE system. It was found that the widely-used conventional co-evaporation technique does not produce highly p-type films. Through a series of deposition experiments, a 4-step method consisting deposition of the layers followed by a post annealing process was developed. The maximum carrier concentration was 3 x 10(19) cm(-3) which is the highest reported for ZnTe:Sb films. The surface morphology and the structure of the films were analyzed using AFM and XRD. Electrical properties of Sb doped films were investigated by four-point probe and room temperature Hall effect measurements. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.