Experimental Confirmation of the Predicted Shallow Donor Hydrogen State in Zinc Oxide

S. F. J. Cox; E. A. Davis; S. P. Cottrell; P. J. C. King; J. S. Lord; J. M. Gil; H. V. Alberto; R. C. Vilão; J. Piroto Duarte; N. Ayres de Campos; A. Weidinger; R. L. Lichti; S. J. C. Irvine

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.2601

Experimental Confirmation of the Predicted Shallow Donor Hydrogen State in Zinc Oxide

S. F. J. Cox, E. A. Davis, S. P. Cottrell, P. J. C. King, J. S. Lord, J. M. Gil, H. V. Alberto, R. C. Vilão, J. Piroto Duarte, N. Ayres de Campos, A. Weidinger, R. L. Lichti, and S. J. C. Irvine

Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 2601 – Published 19 March 2001

Abstract

We confirm the recent prediction that interstitial protium may act as a shallow donor in zinc oxide, by direct spectroscopic observation of its muonium counterpart. On implantation into ZnO, positive muons—chemically analogous to protons in this context—form paramagnetic centers below about 40 K. The muon-electron contact hyperfine interaction, as well as the temperature and activation energy for ionization, imply a shallow level. Similar results for the cadmium chalcogenides suggest that such shallow donor states are generic to the II-VI compounds. The donor level depths should serve as a guide for the electrical activity of interstitial hydrogen.

Received 10 October 2000

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.2601

Authors & Affiliations

S. F. J. Cox^1,2, E. A. Davis³, S. P. Cottrell¹, P. J. C. King¹, J. S. Lord¹, J. M. Gil⁴, H. V. Alberto⁴, R. C. Vilão⁴, J. Piroto Duarte⁴, N. Ayres de Campos⁴, A. Weidinger⁵, R. L. Lichti⁶, and S. J. C. Irvine⁷

¹ISIS Facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton OX11 0QX, United Kingdom
²Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, London WCE 6BT, United Kingdom
³Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester LEI 7RH, United Kingdom
⁴Physics Department, University of Coimbra, P-3004-516 Coimbra, Portugal
⁵Hahn-Meitner Institut Berlin, Glienicker Strasse 100, D-14109 Berlin, Germany
⁶Physics Department, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 79409-1051
⁷Chemistry Department, University of Wales, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW, United Kingdom