We report the synthesis of cubic spinel $ZnCo_2$$O_4$thin films and the tunability of the conduction type by control of the oxygen partial pressure ratio. Zinc cobalt oxide films were grown on$ SiO_2$(200 nm)/Si substrates by reactive magnetron sputtering method using Zn and Co metal targets in a mixed Ar/$O_2$atmosphere. We found from X-ray diffraction measurements that the crystal structure of the zinc cobalt oxide films grown under an oxygen-rich condition (the $O_2$/Ar partial pressure ratio of 9/1) changes from wurtzite-type $Zn_{1-x}$ $Co_{X}$O to spinel-type $ZnCo_2$$O_4$with the increase of the Co/Zn sputtering ratio,$ D_{co}$ $D_{zn}$ . We noted that the above structural change accompanied by the variation of the majority electrical conduction type from n-type (electrons) to p-type (holes). For a fixed $D_{co}$ $D_{zn}$ / of 2.0 yielding homogeneous spinel-type $_2$O$ZnCo_4$films, the type of the majority carriers also varied, depending on the$ O_2$/Ar partial pressure ratio: p-type for an $O_2$-rich and n-type for an Ar-rich atmosphere. The maximum electron and hole concentrations for the Zn $Co_2$ $O_4$films were found to be 1.37${ imes}$10$^{20}$ c $m^{-3}$ and 2.41${ imes}$10$^{20}$ c $m^{-3}$ , respectively, with a mobility of about 0.2 $ extrm{cm}^2$/Vs and a high conductivity of about 1.8 Ω/$cm^{-1}$ /.