Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2011
Single and dual-laser ablation techniques have been used to grow conductive ZnO films at room temperature by ablating a Zn metal target in oxygen ambient. The emission spectroscopy of the material plumes shows a significant presence of oxygen ions and Zn ions in the dual-laser ablated plume. Furthermore, dual-laser ablated plumes expanded rapidly in the radial direction resulting in large-area uniform films. The electrical properties of the films deposited on glass substrates depend critically on the ambient oxygen pressure. Conductivities of the order of 103 (ω.cm)-1 have been obtained for films deposited at room temperature by the dual-laser ablation process.