The optical and electrical properties of ZnO:Al thin films deposited at low temperatures by RF magnetron sputtering

Several ZnO:Al thin films have been successfully deposited on glass substrates at different substrate temperatures by RF (radio frequency) magnetron sputtering method. Effects of the substrate temperatures on the optical and electrical properties of these ZnO:Al thin films were investigated. The UV-VIS-NIR spectra of the ZnO:Al thin films revealed that the average optical transmittances in the visible range are very high, up to 88%. X-ray diffraction results showed that crystallization of these films was improved at higher substrate temperature. The band gaps of ZnO:Al thin films deposited at 25 ℃, 150 ℃, 200 ℃, and 250 ℃ are 3.59 eV, 3.55 eV, 3.53 eV, and 3.48 eV, respectively. The Hall-effect measurement demonstrated that the electrical resistivity of the films decreased with the increase of the substrate temperature and the electrical resistivity reached 1.990×10−3 Ω cm at 250 ℃.