Effect of sputtering pressure on the physical properties of dc magnetron sputtered cadmium oxide films

Abstract

Polycrystalline thin films of cadmium oxide were prepared using dc magnetron sputtering technique by sputtering of metallic cadmium target in the mixture of argon and oxygen atmosphere under various sputtering pressures in the range 3×10^-2 - 1×10^-1 mbar. The variation of deposition rate of the films with the sputtering pressure was in correlation with the variation of cathode potential. The influence of sputtering pressure on the structural, electrical and optical properties of CdO films was systematically studied. The electrical resistivity of the films increased from 5.6×10^-4 to 1.5×10^-3 Ωcm and the optical band gap increased form 2.45 to 2.53 eV with the increase of sputtering pressure from 3×10^-2 to 1×10^-1 mbar respectively.