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Photoconductivity properties of silver-doped zinc oxide films

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Abstract

The transient photoconductivity of as-deposited and annealed in air 0.27 at.% silver-doped zinc oxide films (Ag:ZnO) coated on sapphire substrates by e-beam evaporation method was measured in the dark (σd) and under light from a solar simulator (σph) at temperatures 8, 12, and 32 °C. In comparison with as-deposited Ag:ZnO film, the annealed film exhibits lower photoresponse which decreases and becomes slower as the temperature increases from 8 to 32 °C. The ln σd versus 1/T plots of the as-deposited and annealed samples revealed thermally-activated process in the range of 5–60 °C for σd with an activation energy of 1.4 eV and 0.8 eV, respectively. Furthermore, σd and σph were measured in the frequency range of 10–35 × 106 s−1 at room temperature. σd of the as-deposited film is frequency independent, while σd of the annealed film exhibits two different conduction mechanisms; one dominates in the low-frequency region as conduction via delocalized states, and the other is the polaron mechanism, which is activated at higher frequencies (ω > 190 × 103 s−1). The frequency dependences of σph of the as-deposited and annealed films obey the Drude model of conductivity.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by RAU of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Physical Research of National Academy of Sciences, 0203, Ashtarak-2, Armenia

    R. Hovsepyan, N. Aghamalyan, A. Poghosyan, S. Petrosyan & Y. Kafadaryan

  2. Russian-Armenian University, Hovsep Emin Street 123, 0051, Yerevan, Armenia

    R. Hovsepyan, O. Ayvazyan, N. Aghamalyan, S. Petrosyan, V. Harutyunyan & Y. Kafadaryan

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  1. R. Hovsepyan
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  2. O. Ayvazyan
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  3. N. Aghamalyan
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  4. A. Poghosyan
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Correspondence to Y. Kafadaryan.

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Hovsepyan, R., Ayvazyan, O., Aghamalyan, N. et al. Photoconductivity properties of silver-doped zinc oxide films. Appl. Phys. A 127, 727 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-021-04806-0

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