Effective oxygen-defect passivation in zno thin films prepared by atomic layer deposition using hydrogen peroxide

The intrinsic oxygen-vacancy defects in ZnO have prevented the preparation of p-type ZnO with high carrier concentration. Therefore, in this work, the effect of the concentration of H₂O₂ (used as an oxygen source) on the oxygen-vacancy concentration in ZnO prepared by atomic layer deposition was investigated. The results indicated that the oxygen-vacancy concentration in the ZnO film decreased by the oxygen-rich growth conditions when using H₂O₂ as the oxygen precursor instead of a conventional oxygen source such as H2O. The suppression of oxygen vacancies decreased the carrier concentration and increased the resistivity. Moreover, the growth orientation changed to the (002) plane, from the combined (100) and (002) planes, with the increase in H₂O₂ concentration. The passivation of oxygen-vacancy defects in ZnO can contribute to the preparation of p-type ZnO.