Conduction Mechanism in Acceptor- or Donor-Doped ZrO₂ Bulk and Thin Films

Abstract

The leakage current in capacitors in future electronics should be highly suppressed to achieve low power consumption, high reliability, and fast data processing. Although considerable efforts have been directed at reducing the leakage current, fundamental studies on the effects of doping on bulk and thin-film materials have rarely been conducted. Herein, we investigated the effects of doping with acceptor and donor elements on the conduction of bulk and thin-film ZrO 2 and elucidated the underlying charge conduction mechanism. In the case of bulk ZrO 2 , the electrical conductivity was reliably modulated by the type of dopant element, which is highly consistent with defect chemistry theory. However, unlike in the bulk material, in acceptor-and donor-doped thin-film ZrO 2 , the leakage current was suppressed, indicating that the factors determining the electrical property in thin films are different from those in bulk materials.

Charge Transport in the A6B2O17 (A = Zr, Hf; B = Nb, Ta) Superstructure Series

“…However, other experiments by Kim et al found ∼0.17 and −0.13 exponents at high and low oxygen partial pressures, respectively. 35 The only conditions in which the conductivity is quasi-independent of the oxygen partial pressure are below 10 −5 atm at some temperatures. This supports the hypothesis that the A 6 B 2 O 17 oxides in most of the conditions studied in this work are mixed ionic-electronic conductors.…”