Effect Of Base Pressure In Sputter Deposition On Characteristics Of Indium Tin Oxide Thin Film

Abstract

AbstractA novel approach to sputter deposit low resistivity indium tin oxide thin films in cost effective way has been made. To reduce the complication of out-gassing from organic substances that are deposited at prior process steps in the flat panel display manufacturing, DC+RF magnetron sputtering was performed with a relatively high base pressure. Introduction of impurity atoms originated from residual air in the chamber into the film produced the change in lattice as well as microstructure of the film. Sputter deposition with higher base pressure resulted in lower resistivity of the film. Increase in the mobility of the carrier resulted in resistivity decrease. Resistivity as low as 1.5×10−4 Ω cm has been achieved with DC 0.67 W/cm2 + RF 0.67 W/cm2 power density and 10−5 Torr base pressure. X-ray diffraction analysis showed as much as 0.2 % increase in lattice constant resulted from higher base pressure sputtering. No further improvement of conductivity was observed for the base pressure over 10−5 Torr, suggesting impurity introduction saturation into the film.