MANIPULATING THE STRUCTURAL AND ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF ZINC OXIDE THIN FILMS BY CHANGING THE SPUTTERING POWER OF RADIO FREQUENCY MAGNETRON SPUTTERING

Abstract

Oxygen-deficient zinc oxides thin films with different levels of defects were prepared by using radio frequency magnetron sputtering method with sintered zinc oxide disk as target at different sputtering powers. The composition, structure and electrical properties of the prepared films were investigated. Under the present conditions, all the obtained films possessed würtzite structure, which were growing preferentially along the [Formula: see text]-axis. The thickness of the films, the size of the zinc oxide grains and the content of Zn atoms increased with increasing sputtering power. In the films deposited at a sputtering power from 52[Formula: see text]W to 212[Formula: see text]W, the main defect was interstitial zinc. With increasing sputtering power, due to the enhanced number of interstitial zinc in the films, their room-temperature electrical resistivity would decrease, which was controlled by electron conduction. At increasing measurement temperature, their electrical resistivity would increase, owing to the decrease of defect concentration caused by oxidization.