Effects of Oxygen Partial Pressure on the Properties of Transparent Conductive ZnO:Ga Films Prepared by DC Reactive Magnetron Sputtering

Ga-doped zinc oxide(ZnO:Ga)transparent conductive films were deposited on glass sub- strates by DC reactive magnetron sputtering.The influence of oxygen partial pressure on the structural, electrical and optical properties of ZnO:Ga films was investigated.The X-ray diffraction(XRD)studies show that the films are highly oriented with their crystallographic c-axis perpendicular to the substrate. The grain size of ZnO:Ga films is strongly dependent on the oxygen partial pressure.With the oxygen partial pressure increasing,the grain size of the films increases first,reaches a maximum at 0.30Pa and then decreases.As the oxygen partial pressure increases,the resistivity of ZnO:Ga films decreases grad- ually,reaches a minimum at 0.30Pa and then increases.The lowest resistivity of ZnO:Ga films obtained at the oxygen partial pressure of 0.30Pa is 3.50×10~(-4)Ω·cm.The average transmittance of the ZnO:Ga thin films is over 90%.