Preparation and characterization of transparent conducting ZnO: Zr films deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering

Transparent conducting ZnO:Zr films were deposited on glass substrates by DC reactive magnetron sputtering from a Zn:Zr target consisting of a Zn metallic target and Zr metallic chips. The effects of target-to-substrate distance on their microstructures and properties are investigated. The deposited polycrystalline ZnO:Zr films are hexagonal structures with c-axis as the preferred orientation perpendicular to the substrate. The results show that the target-to-substrate distance greatly affects the microstructure, growth rate, density and electrical properties. At an optimal target-to-substrate distance of 6.0 cm, the ZnO:Zr film has a resistivity of 1.78×10 -3 Ω·cm, an average transmittance of approximately 88.5%, and a refractive index about 2.04.