Realization of p-ZnO thin films by GaP codoping

An attempt has been made to realize p-ZnO by directly doping (codoping) GaP into ZnO thin films. GaP codoped ZnO thin films of different concentrations (1,2 and 4 mol%) have been grown by RF magnetron sputtering. The grown films on sapphire substrate have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Hall measurement, Photoluminescence (PL) and Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) to validate the p-type conduction. XRD result shows that all the films have been preferentially oriented along (0 0 2) orientation. The decrease of full-width at half maximum (FWHM) with increase in GaP doping depicts the decrease in native donor defects. Hall measurement shows that among the three films, 2 and 4 mol% GaP doped ZnO shows p-conductivity due to the sufficient amount of phosphorous incorporation. It has been found that low resistivity (2.17 ohm cm) and high hole concentration (1.8 x 10(18) cm(-3)) for 2% GaP codoped ZnO films due to best codoping. The red shift in near-band-edge (NBE) emission and donar-acceptor-pair (DAP) and neutral acceptor bound recombination (A(circle)X) observed by room temperature and low temperature (10 K) PL, respectively, well acknowledged the formation of p-ZnO. The incorporated phosphorous in the film has been also confirmed by EDS analysis. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.