p-type ZnO thin films grown by MOCVD

ZnO has demonstrated a possibility to be doped as a p-type by using nitrogen and other group-V elements. A high nitrogen doping concentration by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) with nitric oxide (NO) gas has been achieved. However, the processing window for obtaining the p-type ZnO:N film is very narrow, and the hole concentration is typically low. Possible compensation and passivation effects have been studied. Hydrogen and carbon elements are detected by secondary-ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS). Considering the other experimental and modeling results, we believe that the impurities inadvertently incorporated with the zinc precursor could be compensating or passivating the nitrogen acceptor and result in the low hole concentration.