The role of Be incorporation in the modulation of the N doping ZnO

The low solubility of nitrogen in ZnO challenges the growth conditions for preparing p-type ZnO:N films. In this work, the effects of Be incorporation on the nitrogen doping ZnO are studied. The doping window for nitrogen mono-doping ZnO is very narrow. The nitrogen doping concentration in the ZnO:N is low, and greatly depends on the O/N ratio, Zn/O ratio and growth temperature parameters. However, the window for nitrogen doping can be substantially widened in the Be-N codoping ZnO process. The enhanced nitrogen doping level in the BeZnO:N films is fundamentally related to the strong Be-N bonds. Finally, p-type single-crystal hexagonal BeZnO:N films with more uniformly distributed nitrogen are obtained. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.