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ZnO is inherently a strong n-type semiconductor due to its intrinsic defects. Among the group V elements (N, As, P, Sb), nitrogen is considered as teh most hopeful dopant for p-type ZnO, because substitute N (N0) is a relatively shallow acceptor. However, technical issues of the low solubility for the desirable defect and compensations from undesirable donor-like defects are imposed on the development of high mobility and low resistivity p-type ZnO. Breaking through these issues is accompanied by the optimization of dopant concentration and reduction of intrinsic defects. In this study, we have investigated the dependence of the nitrogen concentration on its electrical properties. Home-made ZnO1-xNx targets were prepared and used for KrF excimer pulsed-laser deposition (PLD) at precisely controlled growth conditions. Thin films were deposited on c-cut sapphire substrates. The nitrogen concentration was tuned by adjusting the amount of nitrogen in the ablation targets. The film properties were characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD) and x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS). The electrical properties were measured by van der Pauw method. The as-grown ZnO:N films showed n-type conductivity, however, they were converted to p-type upon post-deposition thermal treatment. Further improvement was demonstrated by introducing a ZnO low-temperature buffer layer which realized the lattice mismatch relaxation.
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