Influence of oxygen pressure on the structural, electrical and optical properties of Nb-doped ZnO thin films prepared by pulsed laser deposition

•Transparent conducting NZO thin films have been successfully deposited by PLD on glass substrates.•The NZO thin films were prepared by PLD at different oxygen pressure.•We found that a desirable amount of oxygen can reduce defect related scattering in enhancing carrier mobility for pulsed laser deposited zinc oxide.•The influence of oxygen pressure on electrical and optical properties in NZO thin films was systematically studied.•The lowest electrical resistivity of the NZO thin film is found to be about 4.37×10−4Ωcm. Nb-doped zinc oxide (NZO) transparent conductive thin films with highly (002)-preferred orientation were deposited on glass substrates by pulsed laser deposition method in oxygen ambience under different oxygen pressures. The as-deposited films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), electrical and optical characterization techniques. It was found that a desirable amount of oxygen can reduce the related defect scattering and enhance the carrier mobility. The resistivity and average optical transmittance of the NZO thin films are of 10−4Ωcm and over 88%, respectively. The lowest electrical resistivity of the film is found to be about 4.37×10−4Ωcm. In addition, the influence of oxygen pressure on optical properties in NZO thin films was systematically studied as well.