Characterisation of DC Reactive Magnetron Sputtered ZnO Films Prepared at Different Oxygen Pressures

Transparent conductive ZnO films have been prepared at different oxygen pressures in the range 1 × 10—4 to 6 × 10—3 mbar on glass substrates held at a fixed temperature of 663 K by reactively sputtering metallic zinc target in a dc magnetron sputtering system. The deposited films were characterised (at 303 K) to study the influence of oxygen pressure on their structure, electrical and optical properties. Films with a low electrical resistivity of 6.9 × 10—2 Ωcm, high optical transmittance of 83% and an optical band gap of 3.28 eV have been obtained at an oxygen pressure of 1 × 10—3 mbar.