Influence of nitrogen annealing on the structural and electrical properties of zinc oxide (ZnO) thin film deposited by radio frequency magnetron sputtering technique

Abstract

Transparent conducting Zinc Oxide (ZnO) thin films with an average thickness of 130.5nm were deposited on glass substrate at room temperature by RF sputtering technique. The samples were then annealed under nitrogen atmosphere at 423K, 573K and 723K respectively. The structural and electrical properties of the films were studied using four-point probe technique, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The as-grown (sample that has not been annealed) was found to have a resistivity of 11× 10-4Ω.cm while that of the annealed samples lies between 3.5×10-4 Ω.cm – 6.0 ×10-4 Ω.cm. The XRD analysis of the annealed samples shows that they are crystalline with prepared orientation of (002) plane. Other data analyzed include the grain size, strain and the residual stress.