Heavy p-type doping of ZnSe thin films using Cu2Se in pulsed laser deposition

Undoped, Cu-doped, Se-enriched, and Cu2Se-doped ZnSe films have been grown on fused quartz substrates by pulsed laser deposition. While the other films are highly resistive, Cu2Se-doped ZnSe films are p-type conducting with hole concentrations of similar to 1.1 x 10(19) cm(-3) and resistivities of similar to 0.098 Omega cm (compared with previous reports of similar to 1 x 10(18) cm(-3) and similar to 0.75 Omega cm). The exceptional heavy p-type doping of ZnSe films can be attributed to substitution of Zn atoms with Cu while limiting selenium-vacancy-associated compensating defects with additional selenium. This work is of importance to solve doping difficulties and contact problems of wide-bandgap semiconductors. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4739083]