Effect of RF Sputtering Power and Deposition Time on Optical and Electrical Properties of Indium Tin Oxide Thin Film

Abdelaziz Tchenka,Lahcen Nkhaili,Abdelali Agdad,Abdelfattah Narjis,Elalami Ibnouelghazi,Elmaati Ech-Chamikh,Salma Kaotar Hnawi,Mohamed Cheikh Samba Vall,Mikhail Zheludkevich

doi:10.1155/2021/5556305

Abdelaziz Tchenka, Lahcen Nkhaili + Show 7 more

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https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/5556305

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Abstract

Indium tin oxide (ITO) films are widely used as transparent conducting electrodes in solar cells, gas sensors, and car windows because of their high electrical conductivity and good optical transparency in the visible region. In this work, ITO thin films were prepared by cathodic radio-frequency (RF) sputtering using an ITO target with 90% In2O3 and 10% SnO2. The structural properties were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), and X-ray reflectometry (XRR). Electrical measurements were performed by applying the four-point method and studying the Hall Effect. Finally, optical properties were taken by the UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometry. The effect of the RF power and deposition time on optical and electrical properties was investigated. It is shown that by using a RF power of 110–80 W, one can prepare crystalline samples with low resistivity, which is an aimed property for TCO semiconductors. Electrical measurements revealed that the resistivity decreases by increasing the RF power and/or the deposition time.

Highlights

Tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) thin films have attracted the attention of many researchers owing to their good conductivity and high optical transmittance (∼95%) in the visible region [1]
We investigated the effect of RF sputtering power and deposition time on optical and electrical properties of Indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films. e RF sputtering method was used to ensure good adhesion
In some previous works, no characteristic diffraction peak of ITO was observed for the films with film with thickness lower than 80 nm. e ITO film was found to go from an amorphous state to a microcrystalline or polycrystalline state with increasing the

Summary

Introduction

Tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) thin films have attracted the attention of many researchers owing to their good conductivity and high optical transmittance (∼95%) in the visible region [1]. ITO is an n-type semiconductor [2] with an energy band gap of 3.5 eV. It exhibits high concentration of free electrons. Sputtering ITO properties depend on various deposition condition parameters, such as initial pressure, RF power [12], argon pressure [13], deposition time [14], angle of incidence of the deposition on the substrate [15], target-to-substrate distance, substrate type [16], film thickness [17], temperature of the substrate [7], and oxygen flow rate [1]. We investigated the effect of RF sputtering power and deposition time on optical and electrical properties of ITO thin films. The sheet resistance is lower than that reported in some reports

Experimental Details

Results and Discussion

Conclusion