Optical and electrical transport properties of facing-target sputtered Al doped ZnO transparent film

Al doped zinc oxide thin film was prepared by dc facing-target sputtering method and its structural, optical, and electrical transport properties have been investigated. The average transmittance of the films is greater than 90% in the wavelength region of 450-700 nm while the resistivity is as high as 3x10(-3) Omega cm. The band gap energy derived from the transmission data is 3.76 eV, which is higher than that of pure ZnO thin film. This band gap growth phenomenon cannot be explained in terms of the Burstein-Moss effect. The resistivity and Hall effect measurements suggest that the interaction between the charge carriers and phonons plays a key role in the electrical transport properties of the film between 60 and 300 K. The film exhibits negative magnetoresistance at low temperatures, which can be well described by a semiempirical expression that takes into account the third order s-d exchange Hamiltonians describing a negative part and a two-band model for positive contribution.