Low-temperature deposited ZnO thin films on the flexible substrate by cathodic vacuum arc technology

In this paper, un-doped zinc oxide (ZnO) films with various thicknesses (150, 250, 350, 450 and 550 nm) were successfully prepared onto PET substrates using cathodic vacuum arc technique at low-temperature (<40 °C). Their microstructure, optical and electrical properties were investigated and discussed. The films showed (0 0 2) peaks, an average transmittance over 80% in the visible region. Calculated values of the band gap are around 3.29–3.33 eV when the film thickness increased, indicating a slight blue shift of optical transmission spectra. The lowest resistivity about 5.26 × 10−3 Ω cm could be achieved for the un-doped ZnO film with thickness of 550 nm.