Doping effects on optical properties of epitaxial ZnO layers determined by spectroscopic ellipsometry

Optical properties of Al- and Ga-doped ZnO layers have been studied in the spectral range from 1.5 to 5.4 eV using a four-zone null spectroscopic ellipsometer and in the spectral range from 0.5 to 6.5 eV using near-normal incidence reflectivity measurements. The layers were prepared by RF magnetron sputtering onto (1 1 2 0) oriented single-crystal sapphire substrates. Al- and Ga-doping gives rise to a shift of the fundamental absorption edge from 3.4 to 3.7 eV. The model dielectric function (MDF) based on an excitonic structure derived by Tanguy [Phys. Rev. B 60 (1999) 10660] was completed by the Sellmeier and Drude terms. The Drude term describes a free-electron contribution originating from presence of the dopant. Spectroscopic ellipsometry and reflectometry are very sensitive to a surface roughness. The surface roughness was modeled by a surface layer of the Bruggeman effective medium and by diffraction theory.