Influence of annealing temperature on properties of nitrogen-doped zinc oxide films deposited by magnetron sputtering

Nitrogen-doped p-type zinc oxide films have been realized by radio frequency (rf) magnetron sputtering and post-annealing techniques. The effect of annealing temperature on the structural, electrical and optical properties of nitrogen-doped zinc oxide films was investigated by X-ray diffraction, Hall-effect, photoluminescence measurements. The nitrogen-doped p-type zinc oxide film with good structural, electrical and optical properties can be obtained at an intermediate annealing temperature region (e.g., 650 °C). The nitrogen-doped p-type zinc oxide had the lowest resistivity of 2.9 Ω cm, Hall mobility of 18 cm2/Vs and carrier concentration of 1.3 × 1017 cm−3. The p-type conduction behavior of the nitrogen-doped zinc oxide film was confirmed by the rectifying I-V characteristies of a ZnO homojunction. The chemical bonding states of nitrogen doped in ZnO film were examined by XPS analysis. Mechanism of the p-type conductivity was discussed in the present work.