Effects of oxygen concentration on the electrical properties of ZnO films

In this paper, electrical characteristics by various oxygen content in ZnO films were studied. To control the oxygen content of ZnO films, post-thermal annealing was performed in N2 and air ambient, led to improve crystallinity and optical properties of ZnO films. The oxygen concentration was measured by Auger electron spectroscopy. The ZnO films having the deficiency of oxygen showed the electron concentrations between 1021 and mid 6 × 1017 cm−3 and resistivity at 10−3–10−1 Ω cm. On the other hand, when the oxygen concentration of the ZnO films was up to the stoichiometry with Zn, the ZnO films showed low electron concentration at −1017 cm−3 and resistivity at 10 Ω cm.