Highly conductive indium zinc oxide prepared by reactive magnetron cosputtering technique using indium and zinc metallic targets

Zn-doped In2O3 film is frequently deposited from an oxide target; but the use of metallic target is increasingly expected as preparing the film with comparable properties. This work aimed to prepare a highly conductive and transparent Zn-doped In2O3 thin film on Corning Eagle2000 glass substrate by magnetron cosputtering method using indium and zinc targets. Structural characterization was performed using x-ray diffraction and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The film had an amorphous structure when the film was prepared on an unheated substrate, but had an In2O3 polycrystalline structure when the film was deposited on 150 and 300 deg. C substrates. The electrical properties of the film were greatly affected by annealing; the Zn-doped In2O3 film had a low resistivity of 6.1x10-4 Ω cm and an average transmittance of 81.7% when the film was deposited without substrate heating and followed a 600 deg. C annealing.