Modification of electrical properties induced by annealing of ZnO:B thin films deposited by chemical vapour deposition: Kinetic investigation of evolution

Abstract In this study temperature dependent Hall effect measurements combined with Fourier Transformed Infra-Red (FTIR) spectroscopy measurements is used to determine the evolution of the scattering mechanisms ascribable to in-grain and grain boundaries on Boron doped ZnO thin films deposited by Low Pressure Chemical Vapour Deposition (LPCVD). Through Hall effect measurements during in situ isothermal annealing, changes in electrical characteristics of zinc oxide could be followed in real time. Whereas only degradation is observed in air, an improvement of layer conductivity could be achieved at low temperatures by annealing under argon atmosphere. A study of the conductivity during isothermal annealing offers the possibility to extract activation energies, which have been compared to migration energies of the different intrinsic defects in ZnO.