Zinc oxide as an optoelectronic device material was studied to utilize its wide band gap of 3.37 eV and high exciton biding energy of 60 meV. Using anti-site nitrogen to generate p-type zinc oxide has shown a deep acceptor level and low solubility. To increase the nitrogen solubility in zinc oxide, group 13 elements (aluminum, gallium, and indium) was co-added to nitrogen. The effect of aluminum on nitrogen solubility in a 3×3×2 zinc oxide super cell containing 72 atoms was investigated using density functional theory with hybrid functionals of Heyd, Scuseria, and Ernzerhof (HSE). Aluminum and nitrogen were substituted for zinc and oxygen sites in the super cell, respectively. The band gap of the undoped super cell was calculated to be 3.36 eV from the density of states, and was in good agreement with the experimentally obtained value. Formation energies of a nitrogen molecule and nitric oxide in the zinc oxide super cell in zinc-rich conditions were lower than those in oxygen-rich conditions. When the number of nitrogen molecules near the aluminum increased from one to four in the super cell, their formation energies decreased to approach the valence band maximum to some degree. However, the acceptor level of nitrogen in zinc oxide with the co-incorporation of aluminum was still deep.

We studied the initial reaction mechanism of Zn precursors, namely, di-methylzinc (Zn(CH3)2, DMZ) and diethylzinc (Zn(C2H5)2, DEZ), for zinc oxide thin-film growth on a Si (001) surface using density functional theory. We calculated the migration and reaction energy barriers for DMZ and DEZ on a fully hydroxylized Si (001) surface. The Zn atom of DMZ or DEZ was adsorbed on an O atom of a hydroxyl (-OH) due to the lone pair electrons of the O atom on the Si (001) surface. The adsorbed DMZ or DEZ migrated to all available surface sites, and rotated on the O atom with low energy barriers in the range of 0.00-0.13 eV. We considered the DMZ or DEZ reaction at all available surface sites. The rotated and migrated DMZs reacted with the nearest -OH to produce a uni-methylzinc (-ZnCH3, UMZ) group and methane (CH4) with energy barriers in the range of 0.53-0.78 eV. In the case of the DEZs, smaller energy barriers in the range of 0.21-0.35 eV were needed for its reaction to produce a uni-ethylzinc (-ZnC2H5, UEZ) group and ethane (C2H6). Therefore, DEZ is preferred to DMZ due to its lower energy barrier for the surface reaction.