Effects of oxygen concentration on characteristics of RF-sputtered In2O3-ZnO thin films

The effects of oxygen concentration on the electrical and optical propertie s Of In2O3-ZnO films are investigated. In2O3-ZnO films deposited under the pure Ar gas show a resistivity of about 3.8 x 10(-4) Omega .cm, comparable to that of indium-tin-oxide (ITO) films (similar to 10(-4) Omega .cm), and an average transmittance of over 90% in the visible range. Thin films depos ited at higher oxygen concentration also show larger absorption at about 40 0-500 mn compared to those deposited at the oxygen concentration of 0.0%. W e propose that it is desirable to use pure Ar gas to obtain films with lowe r resistivity and higher transmittance in the visible range. Moreover, in t he case of films deposited with a higher oxygen concentration, it is found that the resistivity significantly decreases with increasing heat treatment temperature.