Ga Dopant Induced Band Gap Broadening and Conductivity Enhancement in Spray Pyrolysed Zn0.85Ca0.15O thin Films

Ga doped Zn0.85Ca0.15O thin films were prepared by spray pyrolysis method and studied the impact of Ga doping concentration on the physical properties of these films. XRD analysis confirmed the structural purity and polycrystalline nature of the films and composition analysis verified the incorporation of dopants in the structures. Optical transmission in the visible range initially increased and at higher Ga concentration decreased in accordance with the crystalline quality. Energy gap increased with doping percentage due to Burstein-Moss effect arising from the increase in carrier concentration. Ga doping resulted in enhanced electron concentration and consequently obtained lower resistive n type thin films. At higher doping level, electron density decreased due to the limit of solid solubility and hence conductivity slightly decreased but energy gap increased due to the extended localization arising from the poor crystallinity. Mobility decreased with doping due to the increased ionized impurity scattering at lower dopant concentration and due to intra-grain cluster scattering at heavy doping.