Dependence of properties of N-Al codoped p-type ZnO thin films on growth temperature

N-Al codoped p-type ZnO thin films have been realized by dc reactive magnetron sputtering in N2O ambient. Hall measurement, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and optical transmission were carried out to investigate the effect of growth temperature on the properties of codoped films. Results indicated that N-Al codoped p-type ZnO films with good structural, electrical and optical properties can only be obtained at an intermediate temperature region (e.g., 500 °C). The codoped p-type ZnO had the lowest resistivity of 57.3 Ω cm, and a carrier concentration up to 2.52 × 1017 cm−3. In addition, the N-Al codoped p-type ZnO film deposited at 500 °C was of good crystallinity with a (0 0 2) preferential orientation, and high transmittance about 90% in the visible region.