It was demonstrated that the preferential sublattice occupation for a number of impurities in ZnO could be revealed by monitoring Li diffusion. In particular, using ion implantation, the impurity incorporation into the Zn sub-lattice (holds for, B, Mg, P, Ag, Cd, and Sb) manifests in the formation of Li-depleted regions behind the implanted one, while Li pile-ups in the region of the implantation peaks for impurities residing on O sites, e.g., N. The behavior appeared to be of general validity and the phenomena were explained in terms of the apparent surplus of Zn and O interstitials, related to the lattice localization of the impurities. Furthermore, Cd+O and Mg+O co-doping experiments revealed that implanted O atoms act as an efficient blocking "filter" for fast diffusing Zn interstitials.

Impurity Sublattice Localization in ZnO Revealed by Li Marker Diffusion. Azarov, A.Y., Knutsen, K.E., Neuvonen, P.T., Vines, L., Svensson, B.G., Kuznetsov, A.Y.: Physical Review Letters, 2013, 110[17], 175503