Due to relatively low losses, transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) attracted a great deal of attention as a viable alternative to metals for a variety of plasmonic applications targeting the near-infrared (NIR) spectral range. However, additional losses can be caused by the presence of defects caused by the nonequilibrium nature of methods used for depositing TCO thin films. To understand the origin of the additional loss in the ZnO-based TCOs, we have investigated ZnO thin films heavily doped with Al and Ga that were grown by atomic layer deposition and molecular beam epitaxy using spectroscopic ellipsometry, Raman spectrometry, and x-ray diffraction.
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