The p-Type Doping of ZnO: Mirage or Reality?

This chapter deals with a critical review on p-type doping of ZnO. In the past 15 years, ZnO has attracted considerable attention due to its unique properties, which make it a promising material for optoelectronic devices applications. However, a reliable p-type ZnO doping remains a major challenge because of self-compensation effects; thus, despite the advantages of these devices, the fabrication of ZnO-based devices is hampered by the lack of a stable p-type doping. A careful and critical analysis of the results reported in literature raises many doubts about the correctness of the doping-type assignments and, in general, the values of the electrical parameters reported. A historical survey of researchers’ attempts of doping ZnO p-type is given here, together with several possible explanations about the causes of the failures