THERMOELECTRIC AND MAGNETO-THERMOELECTRIC PROPERTIES OF Ga-DOPED ZnO THIN FILMS BY RF MAGNETRON SPUTTERING

Abstract

Zn (1-x) Ga x O thin films (x = 0.01, 0.03, 0.05, 0.07 named as GZO1, GZO2, GZO3, GZO4, respectively) were deposited on glass substrates by RF magnetron sputtering. The crystal structure, electrical, thermoelectric and magneto-thermoelectric properties of GZO films were investigated. It is found that all the GZO films are polycrystalline and preferentially oriented in the c-axis. The electrical resistivity of GZO films decreased first with increasing Ga doping content before it reached a minimum at x = 0.05, and then increased with further increasing Ga doping content. The magnetic fields (B) ranging from 0 to 1.5 T are perpendicularly applied to the films to study the magneto-thermoelectric properties. It is observed that the absolute values of Seebeck coefficients (|S|) of GZO1, GZO2, GZO3 show marked variation with magnetic field and obtain the maximum value at B = 0.5 T. Whereas the |S| value of GZO4 fluctuates slightly with magnetic field and reaches its peak at B = 1.0 T. The magneto-thermoelectric properties are analyzed and we propose that this behavior is mainly attributed to the effect of magnetic field on the electron transport.