Al-doped ZnO (AZO) films prepared at different substrate temperature and AZO films with intentional Zn addition (ZAZO) during deposition at elevated substrate temperature were fabricated by radio frequency magnetron sputtering on glass substrate, and the resulting structural, electrical, optical properties together with the etching characteristics and annealing behavior were comparatively examined. AZO films deposited at 150 degrees C showed the optimum electrical properties and the largest grain size. XPS analysis revealed that AZO films deposited at elevated temperature of 450 degrees C contained large amount of Al content due to Zn deficiency, and that intentional Zn addition during deposition could compensate the deficiency of Zn to some extent. It was shown that the electrical, optical and structural properties of ZAZO films were almost comparable to those of AZO film deposited at 150 degrees C, and that ZAZO films had much smaller etching rate together with better stability in severe annealing conditions than AZO films due possibly to formation of dense structure. (C) 2009 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.