Characteristics of indium zinc oxide thin films deposited by radio frequency reactive magnetron sputtering for solar cells application

Indium zinc oxide (IZO) thin films were deposited on a glass substrate by radio frequency (rf) reactive magnetron sputtering method. As the rf power increased, the deposition rate and resistivity increased while the optical transmittance decreased owing to the increase of grain size. With increasing gas pressure, the resistivity increased and the transmittance decreased. Atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy were employed to observe the film surface. The IZO films displayed a resistivity of 3.8 x 10(-4) ohm cm and a transmittance of about 90% in visible region.