Comparison of N-doped ZnO and N-Al codoped ZnO thin films deposited by pulsed filtered cathodic vacuum arc deposition

N-doped ZnO and N–Al codoped ZnO films are deposited onto glass substrate at room temperature by pulsed filtered cathodic vacuum arc deposition system. The films are characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectra, UV–Vis–NIR spectrophotometer, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and Hall measurements. Films are textured along the (002) direction. AFM images reveal that surface of N–Al codoped ZnO film grown at RT is smoother than that of the N-doped ZnO (ZnO:N) film. Optical band gap of the N–Al codoped ZnO film is higher than that of N-doped ZnO (ZnO:N) film. When N–Al codoped ZnO film is compared to N-doped ZnO film, it is revealed that N–Al codoped ZnO film has a lower hole mobility of 18 cm2/V s, a higher hole concentration of 1.205 × 1019 cm−3 and thus a lower electrical resistivity of 2.730 × 10−2 ohm cm.