Highly transparent and conducting fluorine-doped ZnO thin films prepared by pulsed laser deposition

Highly transparent and conducting fluorine-doped ZnO (FZO) thin films were deposited on glass substrates by pulsed laser deposition. Structural, electrical, and optical properties of the films were investigated as a function of oxygen pressure ranging from 0.01 to 0.5 Pa. All the films had a highly preferential c-axis orientation. The films obtained were dense and very smooth with a typical columnar structure. A minimum resistivity of 4.83×10−4 Ω cm, with a carrier concentration of 5.43×1020 cm−3 and a Hall mobility of 23.8 cm2 V−1 s−1, was obtained for FZO film prepared at the optimal oxygen pressure of 0.1 Pa. The average optical transmittance in the entire visible wavelength region was higher than 90%.