Effect of RF power on the properties of transparent conducting zirconium-doped zinc oxide films prepared by RF magnetron sputtering

Transparent and conducting zirconium-doped zinc oxide films withhigh transparency and relatively low resistivity have beensuccessfully prepared by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputteringat room temperature. The RF power is varied from 75 to 150W. Atfirst the crystallinity and conductivity of the film are improvedand then both of them show deterioration with the increase of the RFpower. The lowest resistivity achieved is 2.07×10^-3Omegacmat an RF power of 100W with a Hall mobility of16cm²V^-1s^-1 and a carrier concentration of1.95×10²⁰cm^-3. The films obtained are polycrystallinewith a hexagonal structure and a preferred orientation along thec-axis. All the films have a high transmittance of approximately92% in the visible range. The optical band gap is about 3.33eVfor the films deposited at different RF powers.