Influence of post-annealing on the properties of Sc-doped ZnO transparent conductive films deposited by radio-frequency sputtering

Sc-doped ZnO transparent conductive films are deposited on glass substrates by radio-frequency sputtering. The influence of post-annealing on the structural, morphologic, electrical, and optical properties of the films is investigated by energy dispersion X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Hall measurement, and optical transmission spectroscopy. The experimental results show that these films are polycrystalline with a preferred [0 0 1] orientation. The lowest resistivity of 2.6 x 10-4 Ω cm is obtained from the film annealed at 500 deg. C. The average optical transmittance of the films is over 90%. These results suggest that Sc-doped ZnO is a good candidate for fabricating high performance transparent conductive films.