Structural and electrical properties of (110) ZnO epitaxial thin films on (001) SrTiO3 substrates

(110) oriented ZnO thin films were epitaxially prepared on (001) SrTiO3 single crystal substrates by a pulsed laser deposition method. The evolution of structure, surface morphology, and electrical conductivity of ZnO films was investigated on changing the growth temperature. Two domain configurations with 90 degrees rotation to each other in the film plane were found to exist to reduce the lattice mismatch between the films and substrates. In the measured temperature range between 80 K and 300 K, the electrical conductivity can be perfectly fitted by a formula of a (T) = sigma(0) + aT(b/2). implying that the electron-phonon scattering might have a significant contribution to the conductivity. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

National 973 Project of China 2002C13613505 2006CB921503 National Natural Science Foundation of China 10474050 1067408010721404NCET program and the Research We acknowledge the financial support from National 973 Project of China (Grant No. 2002C13613505, 2006CB921503), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 10474050, 10674080, 10721404), NCET program and the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education.