Control and improvement of p-type conductivity in indium and nitrogen codoped ZnO thin films

p -type ZnO thin films have been fabricated by In and N codoping. The carrier type in the In–N codoped ZnO can be controlled by adjusting the growth conditions and good p-type conductivity is obtained at temperatures between 490 and 580°C. The p-type behavior is improved when a buffer layer is used. The lowest reliable room temperature resistivity is found to be 7.85Ωcm in the presence of a buffer layer. The ZnO-based homostructural p-n junctions comprising a n-ZnO:In layer on a p-ZnO:(In,N) layer on a buffer layer display apparent electrical rectification in the authors’ repeated measurements.