Investigation of nanostructured transparent conductive films grown by rotational-sequential-sputtering

Abstract

This study fabricates three types of nanostructured conductive transparent films using a rotational-sequential-sputtering method. These films include (1) TiO2/indium-tin oxide (ITO) and SiOx/ITO nanomultilayer films, the optical refractive indices of which can be manipulated in the range of 2.42–1.63 at a wavelength of 550 nm with a controlled resistivity range of 1 × 10−3 to 2 × 10−4 Ω·cm. (2) Multilayer ITO films are deposited on polyethylene terephthalate substrates, providing good flexibility and resistivity as low as 5 × 10−4 Ω·cm. Finally, (3) ultrathin ITO films ranging from subnanometer to a few nanometers in thickness enable exploration of ITO film growth and thermal stability. X-ray reflection characterization provides a rapid, non-destructive method to measure the single-layer thicknesses of the nanomultilayer films and ultrathin ITO films at subnanoscale resolution.