Detection of acceptor-bound exciton peak at 300 K in boron–phosphorus co-doped ZnMgO thin films for room-temperature optoelectronics applications

Abstract It is well-known that the ZnMgO thin-film faces a roadblock in its potential applications for various optoelectronic devices due to the limitation imposed on achieving p-type conduction. The mono-acceptor doping of ZnMgO endures from the stern self-compensation by native donor defects and deep acceptor level formation advocating the need for alternate doping techniques like co-doping. In this paper, we report a detailed study on the improvement in structural, elemental, and optical properties of phosphorus-doped Zn0.85Mg0.15O thin films, with an aim to obtain enhancement in the signatures of acceptor-doped behavior, under the influence of boron implantation time. In addition, the paper also captures the behavior exhibited by the co-doped samples as a result of the variation in the annealing temperature. The solubility of the phosphorus atom (acceptor dopant) was observed to improve with boron (donor co-dopant) implantation as confirmed by the structural, elemental, and optical properties of co-doped ZnMgO thin films. It was also found that the acceptor level emissions got improved after boron implantation in phosphorus-doped ZnMgO thin films. Additionally, with co-doping, the sample showed the signature of acceptor-bound exciton peak till 300 K, evidencing the room-temperature operability of the films. Moreover, the fabricated film had a shallow acceptor energy level located at around 74 ± 0.45 meV above the valence band. Co-doped samples also showed stable acceptor based optical emission for more than a year.