Low-temperature sintering of highly conductive ZnO:Ga:Cl ceramics by means of chemical vapor transport

Abstract

A new technology for sintering a ZnO + Ga2O3 powder via chemical vapor transport based on HCl has been developed. The proposed sintering method has the following advantages: a low sintering temperature of 1000–1100 °C, there is no need to use of expensive dopant nanopowders, the possibility of multiple re-sintering, and the absence of changes in the diameter of the ceramics after sintering. A ZnO:Ga:Cl ceramics with a density of 5.31 g/cm3, a hardness of 2.0 GPa, and a resistivity of 1.46 × 10–3 Ω⋅cm has been synthesized. The solubility limit of the Ga2O3 dopant has been estimated at about 3 mol %. At a higher doping level, the content of the ZnGa2O4 spinel phase becomes significant. In addition, ZnO:Ga:Cl thin films with a resistivity of 2.77 × 10–4 Ω⋅cm can be grown by DC magnetron sputtering of the synthesized ceramics.