Light reflectance and photoelectron yield spectroscopy enable acceptor level measurement in p-type Ba_1-xTiO₃semiconductor

We report the band structure of Ba-deficient BaTiO3 as a p-type semiconductor, studied by a combination of light reflectance and photoelectron yield spectroscopy. Two acceptor levels were observed at the tail of a valence band. As the quantity of Ba vacancies increased, the density of state of the two acceptor levels also increased. The levels of the conduction band minimum and the valence band maximum shifted far away from the vacuum level, but the bandgap seems to be independent of Ba deficient concentration. For classical semiconductors such as Si and GaAs, the observation of impurity levels is restricted to low temperatures (∼20 K) owing to their narrow bandgaps. Oxide semiconductors have now been demonstrated with wide bandgaps and acceptor levels, at normal operating temperatures, which could lead to new device designs in the future.