Electron transport in degenerate mn-doped ZnO nanowires

The authors have performed variable-temperature electrical measurements on individual single-crystalline, Mn-doped ZnO nanowires. Using a back-gated field-effect transistor structure fabricated with electron-beam lithography, they have established that nanowires exhibit n-type conduction. At a temperature of 225 K, the field-effect mobility and free electron concentration are approximate to 35 cm(2) V-1 s(-1) and approximate to 3.6x10(17) cm(-3), respectively. Carrier concentration varies weakly with temperature down to 12 K, signifying that the material is degenerate. Mobility decreases with decreasing temperature down to 12 K, in a manner consistent with ionized impurity scattering in a degenerate semiconductor. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.