p-type ZnO films with solid-source phosphorus doping by molecular-beam epitaxy

Phosphorus-doped p-type ZnO films were grown on r-plane sapphire substrates using molecular-beam epitaxy with a solid-source GaP effusion cell. X-ray diffraction spectra and reflection high-energy electron diffraction patterns indicate that high-quality single crystalline (112¯0) ZnO films were obtained. Hall and resistivity measurements show that the phosphorus-doped ZnO films have high hole concentrations and low resistivities at room temperature. Photoluminescence (PL) measurements at 8 K reveal a dominant acceptor-bound exciton emission with an energy of 3.317 eV. The acceptor energy level of the phosphorus dopant is estimated to be 0.18 eV above the valence band from PL spectra, which is also consistent with the temperature dependence of PL measurements.