Plasma-based sputtering of indium tin oxide for the application of photovoltaic cells

Abstract

Transparent and conducting indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films were deposited on soda lime glass substrates by RF plasma magnetron sputtering at room temperature. The effect of thickness (100, 200 and 300 nm) on the physical (structural, optical, electrical) properties of ITO thin films was investigated systematically. It is observed that with an increase in thickness, the X-ray diffraction data indicate polycrystalline films with grain orientations predominantly along (222) and (400) directions; the average grain size increases from 10 to 30 nm; the optical band gap increases from 3.68 to 3.73 eV and the transmission decrease from 80% to 70% . Four-point probes show a low resistivity (2.4×10−5 Ω cm) values for film with a thickness 300 nm. Present work shows that the ITO is a promising transparent conductive oxide material for the solar cell application.