Infrared Transparency and Conductivity of Amorphous Ternary Ceramic Thin Films

Abstract

In this paper, using polycrystalline Ti3SiC2 powder as target, for the first time, amorphous ternary ceramic (a-TSC) thin films are successfully fabricated on quartz and glass substrates at room temperature by direct-current (DC) sputtering. The microstructural and optoelectronic properties of the a-TSC thin films are investigated by means of XRD, Raman, EDS, four-point probe system and Vis-NIR spectrometer, respectively. It is found that despite of amorphous structure and having not so good conductivity compared with Ti3SiC2, the a-TSC thin films still have enough conductivity. Furthermore, compared with ITO, FTO and AZO thin films, the transmittance of a-TSC thin films is much higher in infrared region regardless of the film thickness. It is suggested for a-TSC thin films that the film thickness should be controlled less than 150nm in order to obtain a higher transparency with an appropriate conductivity. It is believed that a-TSC thin film will find its way to be applied in optoelectronic devices in the near future.