Preparation of transparent conductive ZnO:Tb films and their photoluminescence properties

Tb-doped Zinc oxide (ZnO:Tb) films were prepared by RF reactive magnetron sputtering of a Zn target with some Tb-chips attached. The results show that the appropriate Tb ions incorporated into ZnO films can improve the structural and electrical properties of ZnO films. Photoluminescence (PL) measurements show that the characteristic emission lines correspond to the intra-4fn-shell transitions in Tb3+ ions at room temperature. Under the optimal conditions, the ZnO:Tb films were prepared with the lowest resistivity (ρ) of 9.34 × 10−4Ωcm, transmittance over 80% at the visible region and the strong blue emission.