Degenerate doping induced metallic behaviors in ZnO nanobelts

The authors report the electrical transport properties of an individual degenerately In-doped ZnO (ZnO:In) nanobelts. The room temperature resistivity and electron concentration of the ZnO: In nanobelts are found to be 8.9 x 10(-4) Omega cm and 1.17 x 10(20) cm(- 3), respectively. The temperature dependent resistivity of the ZnO: In nanobelts agrees well with the Bloch-Gruneisen theory due to the electron-acoustic phonon scattering mechanism. A high failure-current density of 7.4 x 10(6) A/cm(2) is measured because of the single-crystalline metallic structure. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics.