title: Investigation of Ga substitution in ZnO powder and opto-electronic properties.
abstract: Two sets of Ga-doped ZnO powders were synthesized via solid-state and Pechini routes with a substitution rate varying from 0 to 4 mol %. The gallium solubility limit is strongly dependent on the synthesis history. Indeed, a low temperature annealing allows incorporating about 1.5 mol % (X-ray diffraction (XRD), inductive coupled plasma spectroscopy (ICP), optical properties) whereas under 0.1% of dopant is introduced after thermal treatment at high temperature: 1500 degrees C (from XRD and pellets conductivity). The incorporation of gallium leads to an anisotropic distortion of the zincite crystal lattice (a and c parameters increase and decrease, respectively, versus the Ga content leading to a decrease of the c/a ratio) which can be explained from the valence bond model. XRD analysis, chemical titration by ICP, and conductivity measurements (on pellets obtained at high temperature) allow determining accurately the maximum Ga content in the zincite. The optical properties (IR absorption efficiency) linked to electron carriers are directly correlated to the gallium rate introduced in ZnO oxide; nevertheless, the non linear correlation between these two parameters tends to show that the concentration of charge carriers in the system is not equal to the amount of Ga(3+) atoms inserted per ZnO volume unit. A saturation regime is observed and was here explained once again on the basis of the valence band model by the increase of inhibiting p type defects with the increase of (n-type donors) Ga(3+) concentration.
authors.affiliation: CNRS, Université de Bordeaux 1, ICMCB, 87 avenue du Dr. Albert Schweitzer, 33608 Pessac, France.
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Serier
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Demourgues
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gaudon