CC BY 4.0 UnportedAl-Bataineh, Qais M.Ahmad, Ahmad A.Aljarrah, Ihsan A.Alsaad, Ahmad M.Telfah, Ahmad2023-02-282023-02-282022https://oa.tib.eu/renate/handle/123456789/11557http://dx.doi.org/10.34657/10591The effect of hydrogen and nitrogen impurities on the physical properties of transparent conductive oxides is investigated in this study. Therefore, 5 wt.% of copper and 5 wt.% of nickel co-doped zinc oxide ((Cu–Ni)/ZnO) films were prepared using the sol–gel method. The (Cu–Ni)/ZnO films were annealed in an oven at 500 °C for 2 h under air, vacuum, nitrogen, and argon atmospheres. The synthesized zinc hydroxide film was transformed to zinc oxide film during the annealing by evaporating H 2O. Films annealed under the mentioned atmosphere including as-prepared one were characterized by analyzing with UV–Vis and FTIR spectra in addition to the 2D mapping electrical conductivity of the surface measured by the 4-point probe. The annealed films under air, vacuum, and argon atmospheres led to generate H-related impurities bounded to the oxygen vacancy (H O) which they act as shallow donor defects resulting in forming (Cu–Ni)/ZnO films into n-type materials. Whereas, the film annealed under a nitrogen atmosphere has N-related defects bounding to the zinc vacancy (N Zn) which they act as shallow acceptor defects resulting in transforming the film from n-type to p-type. These defects affect the optical, electrical, and optoelectronic properties of the (Cu–Ni)/ZnO films.enghttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0530Electrical conductivityOptical and optoelectronic propertiesOxygen vacancyShallow acceptor defectsShallow donor defectsTransparent conductive oxides (TCOs)Zinc oxide (ZnO)Zinc vacancyArticle