Homobuffer thickness effect on the conduction type of non-polar ZnO thin films

Non-polar (101¯0) ZnO thin films were epitaxially grown on m-plane sapphire substrates by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The homobuffer thickness effect on the conduction type of undoped ZnO thin films is carefully investigated. With a relatively thicker buffer layer, weak p-type conductivity with a hole concentration of 1.6×1016 cm−3, a Hall mobility of 0.33 cm2 V−1 s−1, and a resistivity of 1.2×103 Ω cm are achieved for the film. By careful analysis of results from low temperature photoluminescence and transmission electron microscopy measurements, a correlation of the 3.32-eV emission to the p-type conductivity in the undoped non-polar ZnO films is revealed and discussed. The results are important to help deepen understanding of the origin of p-type behavior in ZnO-based materials.