Carrier concentration dependence of acceptor activation energy in p-type ZnO

The characteristics of an acceptor level in Sb-doped, p-type ZnO were studied using cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopy as a function of hole concentration. Variable-temperature CL measurements allowed us to estimate the activation energy of an Sb-related acceptor from temperature-induced decay of CL intensity. The values of activation energy of about 212±28, 175±20, 158±22, and 135±15meV were obtained for samples with carrier concentrations of 1.3×1017, 6.0×1017, 8.2×1017, and 1.3×1018cm−3, respectively. The involvement of acceptor levels is supported by the temperature-dependent hole concentration measurements. The possible origins of the strong temperature dependence are discussed.