Effect of N doping on hole density of Cu O:N films prepared by the reactive magnetron sputtering method

N-doped Cu O thin films have been deposited on glass substrate by reactive magnetron sputtering method under various N /O flow ratios from 0 to 1.0. The structural and electronic properties of Cu O:N films were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), four-point probe and Hall effect measurements. XRD pattern showed that crystalline structures of all the samples retained single phase of Cu O with the increase of N /O flow ratio from 0 to 1.0. However, the crystalline quality of Cu O:N films reduced with the increase of the N /O flow ratio. The phenomenon of peak shift of Cu O(1 1 1) implied that N atoms have been doped into Cu O film. The square resistance of Cu O:N films linearly decreased from 28.1 to 1.5 (10 Ω) with the increase of N /O flow ratio from 0.2 to 0.6 initially, and then it changed slowly with the increase of N /O flow ratio from 0.8 to 1.0. Hole density of Cu O:N films with various N /O flow ratios from 0 to 0.6 was measured using the Van der Pauw method. All the samples are p-type, and the hole density of Cu O:N films was enhanced from 1.2 × 10 cm to 3.1 × 10 cm with the increase of N /O flow ratio from 0 to 0.6. The experimental results demonstrated that N doping was an effective method to enhance hole density of p-type Cu O film. © 2012 EDP Sciences.