Preparation of zinc tin oxide films by reactive magnetron sputtering of Zn on liquid Sn

Zn is sputter-deposited on melted Sn films by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering in oxidizing plasma. The samples present an absorption cut-off wavelength close to the one of ZnO, and an optical transparency higher than 50% in the visible range. Ex-situ thermal annealing improves visible transparency and produces a slight blue-shift in the optical bandgap. X-ray diffraction patterns show typical spectra due to polycrystalline ZnO with evidence of the presence of crystalline SnO, before annealing, and Zn2SnO4, after annealing. Rutherford Backscattering studies reveal the existence of a ZnO layer on top of an O-rich (Zn, Sn)O thin film. After optimal thermal treatment, electrical characterization exhibits carrier concentrations of 1016–1017 cm−3 and mobilities of 20–80 cm2 V−1 s−1 for the resulting (Zn, Sn)O n-type films.