Transparent conductive films of vanadium(V)-doped zinc oxide (VZO) were deposited by radio frequency magnetron sputtering on quartz substrates using a ceramic ZnO targetwith V chips. The electric, optical and structural properties of VZO thin films (V concentration of 0-4 at.%) were investigated at various substrate temperatures (T-SUB) from 200 to 600 degrees C. The resistivity sharply decreased by V doping, and the resistivity reached aminimum of about 5 x 10(-4) Omega cm and 1 x 10(-3) Ocm for T-SUB = 200 degrees C and 600 degrees C, respectively. It was almost constant up to V concentration of 1.0- 1.5% and gradually increased at higher V concentration. The optical transmittance (lambda = 500 nm) of VZO films (V = 0.9-1.1%) drastically degraded from about 80% to 40% for T-SUB of below 225 degrees C while that of ZnO films was over 83% for T-SUB of over 200 degrees C. From the dependence of growth rate and the expansion of c-axis lattice constant in the VZO film, the V configuration was considered to have a charge number of 3. (c) 2014 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.