A method of deposition of a transparent conductive film from a metallic target is presented. A method of forming a transparent conductive oxide film according to embodiments of the present invention include depositing the transparent conductive oxide film in a pulsed DC reactive ion process with substrate bias, and controlling at least one process parameter to affect at least one characteristic of the conductive oxide film. The resulting transparent oxide film, which in some embodiments can be an indium-tin oxide film, can exhibit a wide range of material properties depending on variations in process parameters. For example, varying the process parameters can result in a film with a wide range of resistive properties and surface smoothness of the film.