Structural and electrical characteristics of room temperature sputtered ZnO

Thin films of ZnO were deposited on cleaned soda lime glass substrates by using RF magnetron sputtering technique for deposition time of 20mins, 40mins, 60mins, 80mins and 100mins at room temperature. The structural and electrical properties of ZnO thin films were obtained from X-ray diffraction (XRD), Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and Hall Effect measurement. XRD results confirm the presence of (002) crystal orientation of ZnO and improvement of grain size was observed for films with higher deposition time. The average and the R.M.S roughness have been measured from the AFM images and the Hall Effect measurement confirms the carrier concentration, resistivity and mobility. Hall Effect data revealed that the mobility of the carriers of ZnO thin films increased with higher deposition time.