Stable p-type conductivity and enhanced photoconductivity from nitrogen-doped annealed ZnO thin film

Abstract We report on the growth of p-type ZnO thin films with improved stability on various substrates and study the photoconductive property of the p-type ZnO films. The nitrogen doped ZnO (N:ZnO) thin films were grown on Si, quartz and alumina substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering followed by thermal annealing. Structural studies show that the N:ZnO films possess high crystallinity with c-axis orientation. The as-grown films possess higher lattice constants compared to the undoped films. Besides the high crystallinity, the Raman spectra show clear evidence of nitrogen incorporation in the doped ZnO lattice. A strong UV photoluminescence emission at ~ 380 nm is observed from all the N:ZnO thin films. Prior to post-deposition annealing, p-type conductivity was found to be unstable at room temperature. Post-growth annealing of N:ZnO film on Si substrate shows a relatively stable p-type ZnO with room temperature resistivity of 0.2 Ω cm, Hall mobility of 58 cm2/V s and hole concentration of 1.95 × 1017 cm− 3. A homo-junction p–n diode fabricated on the annealed p-type ZnO layer showed rectification behavior in the current–voltage characteristics demonstrating the p-type conduction of the doped layer. Doped ZnO films (annealed) show more than two orders of magnitude enhancement in the photoconductivity as compared to that of the undoped film. The transient photoconductivity measurement with UV light illumination on the doped ZnO film shows a slow photoresponse with bi-exponential growth and bi-exponential decay behaviors. Mechanism of improved photoconductivity and slow photoresponse is discussed based on high mobility of carriers and photodesorption of oxygen molecules in the N:ZnO film, respectively.