Electrical and Optical Properties of SiO₂-doped ZnO Films Prepared by Rf-magnetron Sputtering System

Abstract

In this study, the electrical and optical properties of $(SiO_2)_x(ZnO)_{100-x}$ (SZO) films prepared on the coming 7059 glass substrates by using rf-magnetron sputtering method are investigated. The deposition rate becomes maximum near 3 wt.% and gradually decreases when the $SiO_2$ content further increases. The growth rates of the SZO film with $SiO_2$ content of 3 wt.% is $4\;{\AA}/s$. We found that the average transmittance of all films is over 80% in the wavelength range above 500 nm. The optical band gap were decreased from 3.52 to 3.33 eV as an increase the deposition thickness. X-ray diffraction patterns showed that the film with a relatively low $SiO_2$ content (< 4 wt.%) is amorphous. SZO film with the $SiO_2$ contents of 2 wt.% showed the resistivity of about $3.8{\times}10^{-3}\;{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$. The sheet resistance decreases with increasing the heat treatment temperature.