Fabrication of low-resistive p-type Al-N co-doped zinc oxide thin films by RF reactive magnetron sputtering

p-Type aluminum-nitrogen (Al-N) co-doped zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films were deposited on glass substrate at 300 degrees C by RF reactive magnetron sputtering using an aluminum-doped zinc oxide (2.4 wt%Al2O3) target and N-2 reactive gas. In addition, the effect of N-2 reactive gas on the electrical and structural properties of Al-N co-doped ZnO thin films was also investigated. It was found that p-type Al-N co-doped ZnO thin films could be obtained only when the volume ratio of N-2 in the N-2-containing Ar working gas exceeded 10%. p-Type Al-N co-doped ZnO thin films with a minimum resistivity of 0.141 Omega cm, a p-type carrier concentration of 5.84 x 1018 cm(-3), and a Hall mobility of 3.68 cm(2)/V s were obtained in this study when the volume ratio of N-2 in the working gas was 30%. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.