Characterization and aging effect study of nitrogen-doped ZnO nanofilm

The influence of sputtering and annealing conditions and aging effect on properties of sputtered ZnO:N thin films were investigated. Achieved results confirmed a planar growth of nitrogen-doped ZnO film with a high uniform and smooth surface morphology. Incorporation of nitrogen in the ZnO films made new Raman shifts. X-ray diffraction spectra showed only the ZnO (0 0 2) diffraction peak, which was slightly shifted toward lower angels, compared to pure ZnO, which is the result of incorporating nitrogen in the ZnO films. The amount of this shift was proportional to N concentration. In addition, annealed samples showed better crystallinity with lower shift due to dramatically reduction of N atoms during the annealing. The Hall effect measurements exhibited p-type behaviour on annealed ZnO:N thin films while the un-annealed samples showed n-type conductivity. Aging effect studies demonstrated that the N content of thin films decreased dramatically as time passed. The reduction of N concentration in annealed samples was lower than un-annealed ones after 6 months.