Investigation of formation mechanism of Li-P dual-acceptor doped p- type ZnO

Abstract

In this work, the dual-acceptor doping method has been used to produce low resistive and stable p-type ZnO thin films. The ZnO:(Li, P) films were deposited on n-type Si substrates by dual ion beam sputtering. The p-type conduction was achieved by thermal annealing at 800 °C for 20 min in N2 ambient. The lowest resistivity of 0.016 Ω cm with a hole concentration and a Hall mobility of 2.31 × 1020 cm-3 and 1.6 cm2/V s, respectively, were obtained at an optimal deposition temperature of 300 °C. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic analysis confirmed the formation of LiZn and PZn-2VZn acceptor complexes along with a trace of PO defects resulting in a high hole concentration. © 2017 Author(s).