Analytical model of electron transport in polycrystalline, degenerately doped ZnO films

Abstract

An analytical description of the charge carrier transport, valid for non-degenerated and degenerated semiconductors, was developed, critically reviewed, and fitted to the temperature-dependent Hall mobility data of magnetron sputtered, degenerately doped ZnO:Al films. Our extended model for grain boundary scattering in semiconductors of arbitrary degeneracy is based on previous models from literature and suitable to describe the Hall mobility of the carriers as a function of the free carrier concentration and the temperature at the same time. It is mathematically simple enough for a fast fit procedure, which is not possible with most of the previous models. Applying a combined transport model consisting of ionized impurity scattering, phonon scattering, and grain boundary scattering in degenerate semiconductors, we were able to determine the trap density at the grain boundaries Nt ≈ 3 × 1013 to 5 × 1013 cm−2 and the deformation potential Eac in the range of 5 eV to 9 eV depending on the details of the transport model.