Rock-salt CdZnO as a transparent conductive oxide

Abstract

Transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) are widely used in applications from solar cells to light emitting diodes. Here, we show that the metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD)-grown, rock-salt CdZnO ternary, has excellent potential as a TCO. To assess this compound, we use a combination of infrared reflectance and ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopies, together with Hall effect, to determine its optical and electrical transport characteristics. It is found that the incorporation of Zn produces an increment of the electron concentration and mobility, yielding lower resistivities than those of CdO, with a minimum of 1.96×10−4 Ω·cm for a Zn content of 10%. Moreover, due to a combination of increasing bandgap energy and band filling, the absorption band-edge energy increases from 2.58 eV in CdO up to 2.89 eV for 15% Zn, yielding a largely enhanced transparency in the visible. The low required growth temperatures, together with the scalability of CVD deposition, provide an excellent ground for the integration of this TCO ternary alloy on foreign devices.