A Significant Decrease in Thermal Conductivity in Eu- and Cd-Doped ZnO Films.

Authors

Misha Khalid, Hadiqa Naaz, Ameneh Mikaeeli, Ibtasam Bin Abdul Ghani, Misbah Aslam, Ewa Przeździecka, Hafsa Mubeen, Rafał Jakieła, Aleksandra Wierzbicka, Bartłomiej Witkowski, Andreas D Wieck, Michał Pawlak

Published in

Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland). Volume 16. Issue 15. Jul 28, 2026. Epub Jul 28, 2026.

Abstract

We demonstrate that dopant inhomogeneity strongly suppresses thermal conductivity in Cd/Eu co-doped, non-polar a-plane-oriented ZnO films grown on r-plane sapphire (Al₂O₃) by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. X-ray diffraction confirms the a-plane-oriented ZnO without detectable secondary phases. Cross-sectional scanning electron microscopy shows continuous films with well-defined interfaces, and secondary-ion mass spectrometry depth profiling identifies Cd/Eu incorporation through the film thickness and a sharp Zn/O drop at the substrate interface. Cross-plane thermal transport was measured at room temperature using frequency-domain photothermal infrared radiometry (PTR) and analyzed by fitting the complex PTR amplitude and phase with a multilayer heat-diffusion model. The extracted thermal conductivity (κ) spans ~3.7-6.3 W·m^-1·K^-1. The lowest κ values correlate with increased Eu-distribution inhomogeneity, consistent with enhanced phonon scattering and reduced effective cross-plane heat transport.

PMID:
42584321
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 12 Aug 2026.

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