An amorphous transparent conductive oxide thin film of molybdenum-doped indium oxide (IMO) was prepared by reactive direct current magnetron sputtering at room temperature. The films formed on glass microscope slides show good electrical and optical properties: the low resistivity of 5.9 x 10(-4) Omega cm, the carrier concentration of 5.2 x 10(20) cm(-3), the carrier mobility of 20.2 cm(2) V-1 s(-1), and an average visible transmittance of about 90.1%. The investigation reveals that oxygen content influences greatly the carrier concentration and then the photoelectrical properties of the films. Atomic force microscope evaluation shows that the IMO film with uniform particle size and smooth surface in terms of root mean square of 0.8 nm was obtained. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.