Effect of growth interruption on the crystalline quality and electrical properties of Ga-doped ZnO thin film deposited on quartz substrate by magnetron sputtering

•Ga-doped ZnO thin films were deposited with growth interruption technique.•The crystallinity of the films was improved with the number of interruptions.•The crystallinity of the films was improved as the interruption time increased.•The growth interruption with a temperature gradient more improved the film quality.

Ga-doped ZnO(GZO) thin films were deposited on the quartz substrate by magnetron sputtering system with growth interruption technique. As the number of interruptions and interruption time increased, the carrier concentration and Hall mobility in GZO films significantly increased. As a result, the resistivity of GZO films decreased. The optical transmittance of GZO films also increased with the number of interruption and interruption time. The transmittance showed over 90% in visual region. Atomic force microscopy measurement showed that the film surface became smoother with an increase of the number of interruption. In addition, the crystalline quality and electrical properties of GZO films were more improved when the growth interruption was employed with a temperature gradient.