Effect of the sputtering gas temperature on the properties of indium tin oxide films

Abstract

An external gas heating device is established, and a heat treatment technology of indium tin oxide (ITO) films prepared via sputtering gas (Argon) heating is developed. Six ITO films are prepared via magnetron sputtering at room temperature, 200 °C, 300 °C, 400 °C, 500 °C, and 600 °C using an external muffle furnace heating Ar. The effects of the Ar temperature on the structure, optical, and electrical properties of the ITO films are studied. It is found that with increasing sputtering gas temperature, the sputtering rate increases gradually, and the thickness of the ITO film increases slightly during the same sputtering time. For the same film thickness, the ITO films prepared at a higher sputtering gas temperature have better photoelectric performance. With increasing Ar temperature, the surface structure of ITO film becomes gradually dense.The crystallite sizes remain relatively uniform, the resistivity is gradually reduced, and the transmittance is gradually increased. The resistivity of the ITO films with the best performance in this experiment is 2.45 × 10−4 Ω·cm, and the average transmittance between 300 and 800 nm is 90.62%. The results indicate that the heat treatment process of the ITO films prepared via Ar heating is a convenient method, which can achieve uniform heating and simultaneous heating and vacuuming. Thus, it can significantly improve the production efficiency.