‫‪Metal oxide semiconductors and conductors‬‬

‫معمل ألكترونيات‬
‫الطالب‪:‬عبدهللا عياده الحربي‬
‫‪392000345‬‬
 Introduction
 Metal oxide semiconductors represent a class of unique materials due to
their electronic charge transport properties when compared to
conventional covalent semiconductors such as silicon (Si).

 Metal oxide semiconductors are valence compounds with a high degree of

ionic bonding. Their conduction band minimum (CBM) and valence
band maximum (VBM) mainly consist of the metal (M) ns and oxygen (O) 2p
orbital, respectively.

 The interaction between the metal and oxide orbitals results in significant
disparity of the charge carrier transport. In general, the M ns orbitals are
highly dispersive while the O 2p one is localized, which result in smaller
effective mass for electrons comparing to holes. Since the carrier mobility is
inversely proportional to the carrier effective mass, m*, via μ = eτ/m*,
where τ is the free carrier scattering time, the smaller electron effective
mass in metal oxide indicates the better electron transport in comparison
to hole transport. Typical metal oxide semiconductors, such as In 2O3, ZnO,
and SnO2, as well as their solid solutions, are predominately n-
type conductivity.

 On the other hand, in order to achieve p-type conductivity in metal oxides,

the hole effective mass should be significantly smaller. This requires a more
dispersive VBM.
 The key to realize dispersive VBM in metal oxide is to design materials with
metal cations that introduce occupied d or s states near the VBM.
 The resulting p–d and p–s coupling between the metal cation and oxygen
orbitals enhances the dispersion of VBM, hence reducing the hole effective
mass. So far, several families of metal oxides have been found as promising
p-type semiconductors.
 Nickel oxide (NiO) is the first-known p-type transparent conductive oxide
(TCO) since 1993 [1]. The Cu(I)-based oxides include Cu2O and
CuMO2 (M = Al, Ga, or In) also attracted much attentions as p-type
semiconductors. In these metal oxides, the Cu 3d state is close to the VBM
and helps to reduce the hole effective mass. In addition, SnO, in which
the VB is composed of hybridization of Sn 5s and O 2p states, has also been
extensively studied for its p-type semiconductor property in recent years.

 Although the electronic band structures of these metal oxide

semiconductors facilitate electron or hole transport, it should be noted that
good n-type or p-type conductivity cannot be achieved intrinsically.

 In metal oxide semiconductors, intrinsic point defects serve as the donors

or acceptors. However, in many cases, the band gaps of metal oxides are
wide and the defect levels are too deep to provide high concentration
carriers. In this regard, extrinsic doping with controllable concentration up
to a very high level is needed to realize moderate or high conductivity.