The properties of tin-doped indium oxide films prepared by pulsed magnetron sputtering from powder targets

Abstract

Mixed indium oxide and tin oxide powder targets have been used to prepare transparent semi-conductive films on glass by pulsed magnetron sputtering. The influences of dopant concentration in the target and oxygen concentration in the plasma were investigated. Also, the properties of the coatings were compared before and after annealing. The morphological structure, crystallinity, optical properties and electrical properties of the films were investigated using a range of techniques, including SEM, XRD, spectrophotometry, four-point probe and van der Pauw method. The main preferred orientations of the coatings are (222) and (400). The transparent lines of coatings deposited with additional oxygen in the plasma showed blue shifts after annealing, with the average transmittance within the visible range being in the range 80–85%. Also, coating resistivities of the order of 10 −4 Ω cm were obtained. The results to date demonstrate that the pulsed magnetron sputtering of Sn-doped In 2O 3 films from powder targets is a versatile, novel technique for the production of high quality transparent conductive oxide (TCO) materials. Due to the flexibility of this technique, preliminary experiments of multi-component tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) (5 at.% Sn)/ZnO (3 at.% Al) coatings are also included here. The incorporation of Al-doped ZnO resulted in an increase in transmission, but also a reduction in the conductivity of these coatings.