title: Compensation mechanism in N-doped ZnO nanowires.
abstract: N-doped ZnO nanowires are synthesized at a relatively low growth temperature of 500 degrees C by directly heating zinc powder using NH(3) as the dopant. The incorporation of N into the ZnO nanowires is experimentally confirmed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman spectra and photoluminescence measurements. By combining post annealing experiments after growth with first-principles calculations, the detailed migration mechanism of N and compensation mechanism in N-doped ZnO nanowires are systematically studied. The larger aspect ratio of nanowires favors the formation of oxygen vacancy and out-diffusion of substitutional N (N(O)), making N(O) in ZnO nanowires always compensated by hydrogen interstitials (H(I)). Our results can help to explain the challenge in getting p-type ZnO and shed new light on the possible realization of p-type doping of ZnO in the future.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Mesoscopic Physics, and Electron Microscopy Laboratory, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jingyun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Xinzheng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yanghui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Dapeng
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yu