Van der Pauw Hall Measurement on Intended Doped ZnO Films for p-Type Conductivity

A Van der Pauw Hall measurement is performed on the intended doped ZnO films (Na doped ZnO) grown by using the molecular beam epitaxial method. All as-grown samples show n-type conductivity, whereas the annealed samples (annealing temperature 900°C) show ambiguous carrier conductivity type (n- and p-type) in the automatic Van der Pauw Hall measurement. A similar result has been observed in Li doped ZnO and in as-doped ZnO films by other groups before. However, by tracing the Hall voltage in the Van der Pauw Hall measurement, it is found that this alternative appearance of both n- and p-type conductivity is not intrinsic behavior of the intended doped ZnO films, but is due to the persistent photoconductivity effect in ZnO. The persistent photoconductivity effect would strongly affect the accurate determination of the carrier conductivity type of a highly resistive intended doped ZnO sample.