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The influence of nitrogen doping on the electrical and vibrational properties of Cu 2 O
Author(s) -
Benz Julian,
Hering Karl P.,
Kramm Benedikt,
Polity Angelika,
Klar Peter J.,
Siah Sin Cheng,
Buonassisi Tonio
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
physica status solidi (b)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1521-3951
pISSN - 0370-1972
DOI - 10.1002/pssb.201600421
Subject(s) - nitrogen , argon , electrical resistivity and conductivity , oxygen , analytical chemistry (journal) , sputtering , materials science , acceptor , metal , doping , raman spectroscopy , oxide , copper , lattice constant , conductivity , inorganic chemistry , thin film , chemistry , nanotechnology , condensed matter physics , metallurgy , physics , optoelectronics , organic chemistry , optics , chromatography , diffraction , electrical engineering , engineering
Thin films of nitrogen‐doped cuprous oxide (Cu 2 O:N) have been deposited by means of direct‐current and radio‐frequency sputtering using a metallic copper target and a mixture of argon, oxygen, and nitrogen for generating the plasma. The doping with nitrogen appears to significantly increase the electrical conductivity of the films. All samples exhibit a temperature‐activated transport behavior. It is shown that the activation energy decreases proportionally to the reciprocal distance between nitrogen atoms, which indicates that a constant fraction of nitrogen is most likely substitutionally incorporated on oxygen site in the Cu 2 O lattice and acts as an acceptor. Nevertheless, Raman measurements suggest that molecular nitrogen can also be found in the samples, bound at different sites inside the bulk and at the surface.