Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) films were deposited by an RF magnetron sputtering method on glass substrates using ZnO as a target containing 5 wt% Ga₂O₃ powder (for Ga doping). The structural, electrical, and optical properties of the GZO thin films were investigated as a function of the substrate temperatures. The deposition rate decreased with increasing substrate temperatures from room temperature to 350℃. The films showed typical orientation with the c-axis vertical to the glass substrates and the grain size increased up to a substrate temperature of 300℃ but decreased beyond 350℃. The resistivity of GZO thin films deposited at the substrate temperature of 300℃ was 7×10^-4 Ωcm, and it showed a dependence on the carrier concentration and mobility. The optical transmittances of the films with thickness of 3,000 Å were above 80% in the visible region, regardless of the substrate temperatures.

We have studied structural, optical and electrical properties of In-Ga-doped ZnO (IGZO) thin films. The IGZO thin films were deposited on the corning 1737 glass by RF magnetron sputtering method. The RF power in sputtering process was varied as 30, 50, 70, and 90 W respectively. All of the IGZO thin films transmittance in the visible range (400 nm ~ 800 nm) was above 83%. XRD analysis showed the IGZO thin films amorphous structure of the thin films without any peak. And also IGZO thin film have low resistivity (1.99×10-3 Ωcm), high carrier concentration (6.4×1020 cm-3), and mobility (10.3 cm2V-1s-1). By the studies we found that IGZO transparent thin film can be used as optoelectronic material and introduced application possibility for future electronic devices.

We have investigated the structural, electrical and optical properties of Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) thin films prepared by RF magnetron sputtering with laboratory-made ZnO targets containing 1, 3, 5, 7 wt% of Ga2O3 powder as a doping source. The GZO thin films show the typical crystallographic orientation with c-axis regardless of Ga2O3 content in the targets. The 3,000 Å thick GZO thin films with the lowest resistivity of 7×10-4 Ω·cm are obtained by using the GZO (Ga2O3= 5 wt%) target. Optical transmittance of all films shows higher than 80% at the visible region. The optical energy band gap for GZO films increases as the carrier concentration (ne) in the film increases.

The ZnO thin films doped with Ga and Ge (GZO:Ge) were prepared on glass substrate using RF sputtering system. Structural, morphological and optical properties of the films deposited in different temperatures were studied. Proportion of the element of using target was 97 wt% ZnO, 2.5 wt% Ga and 0.5 wt% Ge with 99.99% highly purity. Structural properties of the samples deposited in different temperatures with 200 w RF power were investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy, FE-SEM images and x-ray diffraction XRD analysis. Atomic force microscopy, AFM images were able to show the grain scales and surface roughness of each film rather clearly than SEM images. it was showed that increasing temperature have better surface smoothness by FE-SEM and AFM images. Transmittance study using UV-Vis spectrometer showed that all the samples have highly transparent in visible region (300∼800 nm). In addition, it can be able to calculate bandgap energy from absorbance data obtained with transmittance. The hall resistivity, mobility, and optical band gap energy are influenced by the temperature.

A novel design of gas sensor using Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) thin films which are deposited on low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) substrates is presented. The LTCC substrates with thickness of 400 μm are fabricated by laminating 12 green tapes which consist of alumina and glass particle in an organic binder. The GZO thin films with different thickness are deposited on LTCC substrates, by RF magnetron sputtering method. The microstructure and sensing properties of GZO gas sensing films are analyzed as a function of the film thickness. The films are well crystallized in the hexagonal (wurzite) structure with increasing thickness. The maximum sensitivity of 3.49 is obtained at 100 nm film thickness and the fastest 90% response time of 27.2 sec is obtained at 50 nm film thickness for the operating temperature of 400oC to the NO2 gas.