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

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.