Abstract
Zinc oxide, a wide-band-gap semiconductor with many technological applications, typically exhibits n-type conductivity. The cause of this conductivity has been widely debated. A first-principles investigation, based on density functional theory, produces strong evidence that hydrogen acts as a source of conductivity: it can incorporate in high concentrations and behaves as a shallow donor. This behavior is unexpected and very different from hydrogen's role in other semiconductors, in which it acts only as a compensating center and always counteracts the prevailing conductivity. These insights have important consequences for control and utilization of hydrogen in oxides in general.
Keywords
ConductivityZincDopingHydrogenSemiconductorMaterials scienceWide-bandgap semiconductorDensity functional theoryChemical physicsOxideCondensed matter physicsNanotechnologyChemistryComputational chemistryOptoelectronicsPhysical chemistryPhysicsMetallurgy
Affiliated Institutions
Related Publications
Carrier transport in transparent oxide semiconductor with intrinsic structural randomness probed using single-crystalline InGaO3(ZnO)5 films
We have investigated carrier transport in a crystalline oxide semiconductor InGaO3(ZnO)5 using single-crystalline thin films. When carrier concentration is less than 2×1018cm−3,...
Local structures of III-V diluted magnetic semiconductors<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mrow><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">Ga</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mn>1</mml:mn><mml:mi>−</mml:mi><mml:mi>x</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:msub></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">Mn</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mi>x</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:msub></mml:mrow><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">As</mml:mi></mml:math>studied using extended x-ray-absorption fine structure
Local structures around Mn in ${\mathrm{Ga}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{Mn}}_{x}\mathrm{As}$ ($x=0.005$ and 0.074) films have been studied using Mn $K$-edge extended x-ray-absor...
Nanobelts of Semiconducting Oxides
Ultralong beltlike (or ribbonlike) nanostructures (so-called nanobelts) were successfully synthesized for semiconducting oxides of zinc, tin, indium, cadmium, and gallium by sim...
Development of Solid‐Oxide Fuel Cells That Operate at 500°C
Solid‐oxide fuel cells based on doped ceria electrolytes and operating at 500°C are shown to be feasible. The operating regime of doped ceria electrolytes is discussed. It is sh...
<i>Ab initio</i>calculation of phonon dispersions in II-VI semiconductors
The vibrational properties of ZnSe, ZnTe, CdSe, and CdTe are determined by density-functional perturbation theory. To this end we have generalized this method so as to explicitl...
Publication Info
- Year
- 2000
- Type
- article
- Volume
- 85
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 1012-1015
- Citations
- 2173
- Access
- Closed
External Links
Social Impact
Altmetric
PlumX Metrics
Social media, news, blog, policy document mentions
Citation Metrics
2173
OpenAlex
Cite This
Chris G. Van de Walle
(2000).
Hydrogen as a Cause of Doping in Zinc Oxide.
Physical Review Letters
, 85
(5)
, 1012-1015.
https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.85.1012
Identifiers
- DOI
- 10.1103/physrevlett.85.1012