Effect of r.f. power variation on gallium doped zinc oxide thin films

In the present study, 5 wt.% Ga2O3 doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Ga) films were deposited on glass substrates by r.f. magnetron sputtering, at room temperature. r.f. power influence on film characteristics was investigated in a wide variation ranges. Various methods were used to characterize the structural, electrical and optical properties of the films such as XRD, HRSEM-EDS, AFM, four point probe resistivity and optical transmittance. The achieved results revealed that the r.f. power variation played a critical role on ZnO:Ga thin films. Especially, the deposition rate increased from 80 Å/min to 300 Å/min, while resistivity values were obtained around 10−4 Ω cm. According to XRD results, majority of the thin films were oriented with the crystallographic c-(002) axis perpendicular to the substrate surface. Also, the crystallite sizes of the ZnO:Ga films were larger than ZnO and ZnO:Al thin films. The optical transmittance increased from 71% to 82% with the increase of r.f. power values. Moreover, the surface roughness (RMS) values were in the range of 2.12-15.70 nm. At 230 W r.f. power, the minimum resistivity value was obtained as 3.2 × 10−4 Ω cm, thickness as 540 nm and RMS as 9.24 nm. The average optical transmittance at 230 W was measured as 79.63% in the visible spectrum and the figure of merit (FOM) value was achieved as 24.8843 × 104 (Ω cm)−1.