ON THE ELECTRONIC TRANSPORT MECHANISM IN MAGNETRON-SPUTTERED POLYCRYSTALLINE ZnO THIN FILMS

Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films were deposited onto glass substrates by d.c. magnetron sputtering. The structural analysis, by X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy, indicate that the studied films are polycrystalline and have a wurtzite (hexagonal) structure. The film crystallites are preferentially oriented with (002) planes parallel to the substrates. The mechanism of electronic transport is explained in terms of Seto's model elaborated for polycrystalline semiconducting films (crystallite boundary trapping theory). Some parameters of used model (impurity concentration, density and energy of the trapping states, etc.) have been calculated. The optical bandgap (E-g0 = 3.28 - 3.37 eV) was determined from absorption spectra.