title: Surface passivation of semiconducting oxides by self-assembled nanoparticles.
abstract: Physiochemical interactions which occur at the surfaces of oxide materials can significantly impair their performance in many device applications. As a result, surface passivation of oxide materials has been attempted via several deposition methods and with a number of different inert materials. Here, we demonstrate a novel approach to passivate the surface of a versatile semiconducting oxide, zinc oxide (ZnO), evoking a self-assembly methodology. This is achieved via thermodynamic phase transformation, to passivate the surface of ZnO thin films with BeO nanoparticles. Our unique approach involves the use of Be(x)Zn(1-x)O (BZO) alloy as a starting material that ultimately yields the required coverage of secondary phase BeO nanoparticles, and prevents thermally-induced lattice dissociation and defect-mediated chemisorption, which are undesirable features observed at the surface of undoped ZnO. This approach to surface passivation will allow the use of semiconducting oxides in a variety of different electronic applications, while maintaining the inherent properties of the materials.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Dae-Sung
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Haiyuan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Sepehr K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Vasheghani Farahani
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Akash
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bhatnagar
authors.affiliation: Science Institute, University of Iceland, Dunhaga 3, Reykjavik, IS-107, Iceland.
authors.forename: Djelloul
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Seghier
authors.affiliation: School of Semiconductor and Chemical Engineering, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, 561-756, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Chel-Jong
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, United Kingdom.|Department of Nano and Electronic Physics, Kookmin University, Seoul, 136-702, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jie-Hun
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Chris F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: McConville