Transparent conducting ZnO:Al films with good adhesion and low resistivity have been prepared on organic substrates by r.f. magnetronsputtering. Polycrystalline ZnO:Al films having a preferred orientation were obtained with resistivity 1.84

A strong accumulation layer can be produced on the surface of polycrystalline ZnO films when the samples are exposed to ions from an ineret gas discharge in Ar or Kr. A combination of surface conductance and surface potential measurements show that an accumulation layer is induced by the adsorption of charges from the inert gas plasma which neutralizes and removes chemisorbed oxygen atoms, and this can increase the conductance by more than 6 orders of magnitude, for 500 nm thick films. Electrical neutrality in the ZnO provides the electrons for the accumulation layer, either from the ohmic contacts or the plasma. This accumulation layer can be further enhanced by illumination with UV light.

Highly transparent conducting Al-doped ZnO films with good adherence and low resistivity have been prepared on polymer substrates by r. f. magnetron sputtering. Mechanically stable polycrystalline conducting ZnO: Al films having a preferred orientation with the (002).planes parallel to the substrates were deposited on polyisocyanate(PI).substrate with resistivities in the range of 4.1×10-3 to 5.110-4 π cm, with carrier densities more than 2.6×1020 cm-3 and Hall mobilities between 5.78 and 13.11 cm2 V-1 s-1. The average transmittance exceeded 80% for a 440 nm thick film deposited on polypropylene adipate (PPA).substrate in the visible spectrum. The quality of obtained films depended on substrate temperatures, sputtering power, Ar pressures and compositions of used targets during film fabrication.

Highly transparent conducting indium tin oxide(ITO)films have been prepared on glass substrates by reactively evaporating In-Sn alloy in a system with an oxygen partial pressure of (1-2)×10-4 Torr and a substrate temperature between 100 and 320℃. Mechanically stable polycrystalline conducting ITO films having a preferred orientation with the (111) planes parallel to the substrates were deposited with resistivities in the range from 1.12×10-4 to 3.07×10-4 cm, with carrier densities between 7×1020 and 1.27×1021 cm-3 and Hall mobilities between 27 and 40 cm2 V-1 S-1. The average transmittance reached 95% for a film 175 nm thick in the wavelength range of the visible spectrum. The resistivities and transmittances of the obtained films depended on the oxygen partial pressures and substrate temperatures during film fabrication.

Highly transparent conducting indium tin oxide(ITO) films have been prepared on polyester thin film substrate by reactively evaporating metal In-Sn alloy in a system with an oxygen partial pressure of (3-30)×10-5 Torr and substrate temperatures between 80 and 240℃. The structure and opto-electrical properties of the films depending on the deposition conditions have been investigated. High quality films with a average transparency of 83% and the resistivity of 7×10-4 v cm have been obtained by controlling the deposition prameters.