Si doped ZnO thin films for transparent conducting oxides

Transparent conductive silicon doped zinc oxide (SZO, 3%Si) thin films are grown by direct current magnetron sputtering on glass substrates at room temperature. Experimental results show that the sputtering time has a significance impact on the growth rate, crystal quality and electrical properties of the films, and have little impact on the optical properties of the films. The growth rate decreases with the sputtering time. The resistivity of ZnO/Si films decreases as the sputtering time increases from 8 to 20 min. However, as the sputtering time increases further, the electrical resistivity increases instead. When other sputtering conditions are kept unchanged, it is found that the optimum sputtering time is 20 min and the achieved lowest resistivity is 4·92×10⁻⁴ Ω cm (sheet resistance = 11·5 Ω/sq for thickness 427·5 nm). The UV-vis transmission spectrum shows that all film samples present a transmission of above 90·0% in the visible range.