Effects of the Ga-doping concentration on the characteristics of Zn0.7Mg0.3O thin films deposited by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition using an ultrasonic nebulization

Ga-doped Zn0.7-xMg0.3O thin films were deposited on glass substrates at 350 °C by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition using an ultrasonic nebulization technique to transport the source precursors, and the effects of the Ga-doping concentration were investigated. The films with Ga-doping concentrations less than 5 mol% grew with [001] preferred orientation perpendicular to the substrate surface and were composed of large crystallites. At Ga content greater than 5 mol%, the films grew with random orientation and very small crystallite size. The charge carrier concentration in the films increased rapidly up to 4 mol% Ga and then decreased gradually with further increases in the Ga-content. The film resistivity decreased with increasing Ga-content up to 4 mol% due mainly to the increase in charge carrier concentration. Then, the resistivity increased gradually with increasing Ga-content due to the decrease in mobility. The lowest resistivity of the Ga-doped Zn0.7-xMg0.3O thin film was 3.8 × 10−1 Ωcm at the Ga doping concentration of 4 mol%. The mean transmittance in the visible range was more than 85% in all films. The optical band gap of the films increased with increasing Ga-doping concentration up to 5 mol% due to the Burstein-Moss effect.