Conductivity Of Indium Tin Oxide Research Articles

Photoelectric properties of thin layers of Ag2S quantum dots passivated with thiol-containing molecules

In this work, we studied the electrophysical properties of condensates of colloidal Ag2S quantum dots (QDs), passivated with thiol-containing molecules (thioglycolic acid and L-cysteine) (further, Ag2S/TGA QDs and Ag2S/L-Cys QDs) on indium tin oxide (ITO) substrates. The temperature dependences of the electrical characteristics (conductivity) are analyzed in the temperature range from 300 to 360 K. Facts of the formation of the Schottky barrier structures is obtained. Activation energies of 0.2 eV (Ag2S/L-Cys QDs) and 0.66 eV (Ag2S/TGA QDs) were obtained by the use of linear approximations of current–voltage (I–V) characteristics in Arrhenius coordinates. It is shown that the conductivity of ITO - Ag2S QDs film - Al structure is mainly determined by the Schottky barrier that is formed at the Al-Ag2S QDs film junction. The rectifying contact is formed at the Ag2S film -Al junction due to the lower work function of Al. The I–V characteristics under the optical radiation action were analyzed for the studied sandwich structures. They turned out to be similar for Ag2S/TGA and Ag2S/L-Cys QDs. When a reverse or forward bias voltage is applied to a sandwich structure, in the case of the optical radiation action with a wavelength starting from the its value, corresponding to the most probable exciton transition in the QDs absorption the photocurrent is observed. The found difference (by an order of magnitude) in the photocurrent values of the sandwich structure, based on Ag2S/TGA QDs and Ag2S/L-Cys QDs is related to the smaller thickness of the Ag2S/TGA QDs film.

Reducing damage of sputtering and improving conductivity of transparent electrodes for efficient semi-transparent perovskite solar cells

Sputtered indium tin oxide (ITO) is widely used as an electrode in semi-transparent and tandem perovskite solar cells. However, damage from sputtering to under layers and the limited conductivity of ITO are still the two main obstacles that hinder further performance improvement of the devices. In this work, the effects and mechanism of sputtering damage and poor conductivity of ITO are investigated based on a traditional perovskite solar cell with bathocuproine (BCP) buffer layer. In order to suppress the sputtering damage, tin oxide (SnO2) is deposited on C60 to replace the BCP buffer layer. However, it is found that the deposition of SnO2 on the non-reactive C60 by atomic layer deposition will result in island growth of SnO2 film, which is the key reason for large dark current in solar cells. Fortunately, the phenomenon is inhibited by decorating C60 surface with WO3 thin film. In order to improve the conductivity of the transparent electrode, an ITO/Au/ITO multilayer architecture is designed. The fill factor (FF) and power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the semi-transparent solar cells (ST-PSCs) with the modified buffer layer and electrodes reached 76.4% and 17.62%, respectively, showing an improvement of FF and PCE when compared to the device with BCP buffer layer and ITO electrode. It is revealed that the optimization also increases the short circuit current of the solar cells. These results provide new strategies for damage reduction of sputtering and performance improvement of ST-PSCs.

The Influence of Thermal and Mechanical Stress on the Electrical Conductivity of ITO-Coated Polycarbonate Films.

The influence of thermomechanical stress on the conductivity of indium tin oxide (ITO)-coated polycarbonate (PC) films was investigated. PC is the industry's standard material for window panes. ITO coatings on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) films are the main commercially available option; as such, most investigations refer to this combination. The investigations in this study aim to investigate the critical crack initiation strain at different temperatures and crack initiation temperatures for two different coating thicknesses and for a commercially available PET/ITO film for validation purposes. Additionally, the cyclic load was investigated. The results show the comparatively sensitive behavior of the PC/ITO films, with a crack initiation strain at room temperature of 0.3-0.4% and critical temperatures of 58 °C and 83 °C, with high variation depending on the film's thickness. Under thermomechanical loading, the crack initiation strain decreases with increasing temperatures.

Thermal Transport Evolution Due to Nanostructural Transformations in Ga-Doped Indium-Tin-Oxide Thin Films.

We report on a comprehensive theoretical and experimental investigation of thermal conductivity in indium-tin-oxide (ITO) thin films with various Ga concentrations (0–30 at. %) deposited by spray pyrolysis technique. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy have shown a structural transformation in the range 15–20 at. % Ga from the nanocrystalline to the amorphous phase. Room temperature femtosecond time domain thermoreflectance measurements showed nonlinear decrease of thermal conductivity in the range 2.0–0.5 Wm−1 K−1 depending on Ga doping level. It was found from a comparison between density functional theory calculations and XRD data that Ga atoms substitute In atoms in the ITO nanocrystals retaining Ia-3 space group symmetry. The calculated phonon dispersion relations revealed that Ga doping leads to the appearance of hybridized metal atom vibrations with avoided-crossing behavior. These hybridized vibrations possess shortened mean free paths and are the main reason behind the thermal conductivity drop in nanocrystalline phase. An evolution from propagative to diffusive phonon thermal transport in ITO:Ga with 15–20 at. % of Ga was established. The suppressed thermal conductivity of ITO:Ga thin films deposited by spray pyrolysis may be crucial for their thermoelectric applications.

Strategy for Controlling the Electrical Conductivity of Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) Nanobranches

AbstractThe electronic properties of indium tin oxide (ITO) nanobranches fabricated by electron beam evaporation are controlled using the following two methods: i) The growth direction of the rods and branches is controlled by an epitaxial relationship with a yttria‐stabilized zirconia substrate. The aligned growth of ITO nanobranches causes low sheet resistance because of the high density and good connectivity of the branches. ii) Heterojunction metal‐oxide nanoparticles are coated on the surface of the nanobranches to form a depletion region in the near surface for band bending. The morphology of the metal oxide also affects the electronic properties of the nanobranches. The sheet resistance of Fe2O3‐coated nanobranches (Fe2O3: film shape) increases linearly with the number of coatings. In the case of Mn2O3 (Mn2O3: nanoparticle shape), the sheet resistance is dramatically increased and saturated with the increase in the number of coatings.

Inverse spin Hall effect in ITO/YIG exited by spin pumping and spin Seebeck experiments**Project supported by the National Key Basic Research Project of China (Grant No. 2016YFA0300600), Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KJCX2-YW-W24), the Young Scientists Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11604375), and the Laboratory of Microfabrication of Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy

Spin currents, which are excited in indium tin oxide (ITO)/yttrium iron garnet (YIG) by the methods of spin pumping and spin Seebeck effect, are investigated through the inverse spin Hall effect (ISHE). It is demonstrated that the ISHE voltage can be generated in ITO by spin pumping under both in-plane and out-of-plane magnetization configurations. Moreover, it is observed that the enhancement of spin Hall angle and interfacial spin mixing conductance can be achieved by an appropriate annealing process. However, the ISHE voltage is hardly seen in the presence of a longitudinal temperature gradient. The absence of the longitudinal spin Seebeck effect can be ascribed to the almost equal thermal conductivity of ITO and YIG and specific interface structure, or to the large negative temperature dependent spin mixing conductance.

Highly Conductive and Transparent Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanoscale Films via Thermal Conversion of Polymer-Encapsulated Graphene Oxide Sheets.

Despite noteworthy progress in the fabrication of large-area graphene sheetlike nanomaterials, the vapor-based processing still requires sophisticated equipment and a multistage handling of the material. An alternative approach to manufacturing functional graphene-based films includes the employment of graphene oxide (GO) micrometer-scale sheets as precursors. However, search for a scalable manufacturing technique for the production of high-quality GO nanoscale films with high uniformity and high electrical conductivity is still continuing. Here we show that conventional dip-coating technique can offer fabrication of high quality mono- and bilayered films made of GO sheets. The method is based on our recent discovery that encapsulating individual GO sheets in a nanometer thick molecular brush copolymer layer allows for the nearly perfect formation of the GO layers via dip coating from water. By thermal reduction the bilayers (cemented by a carbon-forming polymer linker) are converted into highly conductive and transparent reduced GO films with a high conductivity up to 104 S/cm and optical transparency on the level of 90%. The value is the highest electrical conductivity reported for thermally reduced nanoscale GO films and is close to the conductivity of indium tin oxide currently in use for transparent electronic devices, thus making these layers intriguing candidates for replacement of ITO films.

TCO contacts for high efficiency c-Si solar cells: Influence of different annealing steps on the Si substrates and TCO layers properties

Different Transparent Conductive Oxide (TCO) layers properties are evaluated after annealing steps at temperatures above 200°C, in order to study their potential use in crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells fabrication processes. While the conductivity of Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) layers obtained by magnetron sputtering (MS) is almost stable after annealing in air, Aluminum doped Zinc Oxide (AZO) layers deposited by Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) need a controlled atmosphere to maintain high carrier densities and mobilities. During the annealing processes, contaminating atoms (such as Zn) diffuse into the c-Si bulk and may potentially decrease its quality. Thus, both the contamination of the c-Si bulk and the properties of the AZO layer have been analyzed.

Neuronal excitability and network formation on optically transparent electrode materials.

With the advent of genetically-encoded optical tools to trigger or report neuronal activity, new designs for multielectrode arrays (MEAs) used in neural interfacing incorporate both optical and electrical modes of stimulating or recording neural activity. Likewise, the need to improve upon the biocompatibility of implanted MEAs has moved the field towards the use of softer, more compliant materials in device fabrication. However, there is limited available information on the impact of the materials used in MEAs on the function of interfaced individual neurons and neuronal networks. We assessed the responses of rat cortical neurons on optically transparent materials commonly used in the construction of "next-generation" devices: indium tin oxide (ITO), parylene-C, and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). We found that neuronal network formation and spiking responses to electrical stimulation were enhanced in neurons cultured on ITO. We observed reduced excitability and synaptic connectivity between neurons cultured on PDMS. We hypothesize that the superior conductivity of ITO and suboptimal neuronal attachment to PDMS contributed to our results.

Electrical Conductivity and Hall Effect Study of Organic Solar Cell Using Downy Rose Myrtle Berries as Natural Dye: A Heat Treatment

This work focused on the electrical and Hall Effect of Organic Solar cell (OSC). In this work, Indium Tin oxide (ITO) glass as substrate was heated at 50 °C to 200 °C. The polymer used was Poly (3-Dodecylthiophene) (P3DT) thin film and Downy Rose Myrtle berries (RhodomyrtusTomentosa(Ait.) Hassk.) as dye. The P3DT were deposited on the ITO substrate using electrochemistry method at room temperature. While, the dye of Downy Rose Myrtle berries was deposited by layered using spin coating method. The electrical conductivity of ITO deposited thin film was explored by four point probes (FPP) under dark and under light radiation (range of 10 Wm-2 to 200Wm-2). From FPP study, the electrical conductivity was increased by the increment of light intensity and temperature of substrate. Lastly, the samples were examined using Hall Effect measurement to obtain the type of sample, Hall mobility, and highest charge carrier in the sample of OSC. The results show that the sample is suitable for further solar cell application.

Improvement of optical and electrical properties of indium tin oxide layer of GaN-based light-emitting diode by surface plasmon in silver nanoparticles

We report on the effect of silver (Ag) nanoparticles on the optical transmittance and electrical conductivity of indium tin oxide (ITO) transparent conducting layer deposited on p-GaN layer of light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The sheet resistance of ITO and the series resistance of LEDs were decreased due to the increased electrical conductivity of ITO by Ag nanoparticles, compared with those of the LEDs with a bare ITO only. The ITO transmittance was also improved by localized surface plasmon resonance between the incident light and the randomly distributed Ag nanoparticles on ITO. The optical output power of LEDs with Ag nanoparticles on ITO was increased by 16% at 20mA of injection current.

Preparation, structural and optical investigations of ITO nanopowder and ITO/epoxy nanocomposites

Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) nanopowder was synthesized by a sol–gel method. It was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy. ITO/epoxy nanocomposites (ITO–EP-NCs) were prepared by mechanically dispersing the as-prepared ITO nanopowder into epoxy matrix. The XRD patterns show structural changes depending on ITO content. The interdependence of structural, morphological, optical properties and the dispersed concentration of ITO nanoparticles were investigated. The UV–visible absorption spectra revealed that the ITO–EP-NCs exhibit enhanced UV light absorption properties and wide absorption bandwidth ranging up to 400nm from 2wt% ITO loading. Thus, it indicated that UV and IR-shielding properties have been improved with the incorporation of ITO nanoparticles into the epoxy matrix.The gap energy of epoxy matrix was reduced by adding the ITO-NPs, leading to the improvement of its electrical conductivity. Indeed, the AC electrical conductivity of ITO–EP-NCs showed a critical percolation threshold pc=0.21wt% ITO. For low loading (<2wt% ITO), the ITO–EP-NCs have combined good transparency in the visible range and enhanced electrical conductivity, which are required for optoelectronics devices.

Transparent conductors with an ultrathin nickel layer for high-performance photoelectric device applications

A thin nickel (Ni) layer of thickness 5nm was inserted in between the indium tin oxide (ITO) layers of thickness 50nm each so as to increase the conductivity of ITO without affecting much of its transmittance nature. ITO layers with and without Ni film were prepared by reactive DC sputtering on both Si and glass substrates. The influence of Ni layer on the optical and electrical properties of prepared devices was investigated. Due to the insertion of thin Ni layer, the resistivity of ITO/Ni/ITO sample (3.2×10−4Ωcm) was reduced 10 times lesser than that of ordinary ITO layer (38.6×10−4Ωcm); consequently it increased the mobility of ITO/Ni/ITO device. The external and internal quantum efficiencies (EQE and IQE) of ITO/Ni/ITO device exhibited better performance when compared to ITO layer that has no Ni film. At wavelengths of 350 and 600nm, the photoresponses of ITO/Ni/ITO device were predominant than that of reference ITO device. This highly conductive and photoresponsive Ni inserting ITO layers would be a promising device for various photoelectric applications.

Semitransparent inverted polymer solar cells employing a sol-gel-derived TiO2 electron-selective layer on FTO and MoO3/Ag/MoO3 transparent electrode.

We report a new semitransparent inverted polymer solar cell (PSC) with a structure of glass/FTO/nc-TiO2/P3HT:PCBM/MoO3/Ag/MoO3. Because high-temperature annealing which decreased the conductivity of indium tin oxide (ITO) must be handled in the process of preparation of nanocrystalline titanium oxide (nc-TiO2), we replace glass/ITO with a glass/fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate to improve the device performance. The experimental results show that the replacing FTO substrate enhances light transmittance between 400 and 600 nm and does not change sheet resistance after annealing treatment. The dependence of device performances on resistivity, light transmittance, and thickness of the MoO3/Ag/MoO3 film was investigated. High power conversion efficiency (PCE) was achieved for FTO substrate inverted PSCs, which showed about 75% increase compared to our previously reported ITO substrate device at different thicknesses of the MoO3/Ag/MoO3 transparent electrode films illuminated from the FTO side (bottom side) and about 150% increase illuminated from the MoO3/Ag/MoO3 side (top side).

Breaking mechanism of indium tin oxide and its effect on organic photovoltaic cells

Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) is one of the most used anode materials in organic solar cells. ITO is a brittle material, however, in roll-to-roll manufacturing plants and final applications material flexibility is beneficial. This study examines the flexibility limits of ITO in applications manufacturing photovoltaic cells. First, ITO was bent using different cylinders to achieve different sample bending curvatures and thus different stages of breaking. Next, the conductivity of ITO was measured and surface topology was profiled. As a result, it was discovered that samples start to break even with low bending curvatures, and while no changes are detected in the surface profile, conductivity starts to decrease. When the cracks start to appear on the surface of ITO, a specific radius of curvature is discernible. In this critical bending curvature resistance and its relative standard deviation start to increase faster. Optical profilometer examination revealed that the cracks reach the ITO surface at the same moment. After this critical bending curvature, clear positive correlation was observed between the conductivity and the number of cracks. To test the effect of cracked ITO on the performance of solar cells, solar cells were produced on top of the cracked ITO layer. The measurements showed that cracks did not decrease the performance of solar cell. This fact supports the use of ITO-based organic photovoltaic cells in applications where flexibility is required as well as in roll-to-roll manufacturing.

Poly-crystallinity of indium-tin-oxide films improved by using simultaneous ion beam and heat treatment of the plastic substrate

The combined treatment effects of an ion beam with directionality and heat of a low temperature on a plastic substrate was investigated as a method to increase the electrical conductivity of indiumtin-oxide (ITO) films deposited on plastic substrate surfaces at low temperatures. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) surface treatment by using an ion beam at low temperature (120 °C), which can be applied to plastic substrates, improves the conductivity of ITO films. X-ray diffraction indicates that ITO films deposited on PET surfaces treated simultaneously by using an ion beam and heat of a low temperature have an almost polycrystalline structure even though they have small amorphous party on. As a supplementary measurement, the contact angle showed that the polycrystalline structure was due to a self-assembly effect at the PET surfaces. Consequently, the electrical conductivity of an ITO film deposited by using the proposed technique is three times higher than that of an ITO film treated only with heat of low temperature due to the improved polycrystalline structure.

Effect of enhanced-mobility current path on the mobility of AOS TFT

In this study, the mobility enhancement in an Amorphous Oxide Semiconductor Thin Film Transistor (AOS TFT), particularly the effect of enhanced-mobility current path was investigated. In the TFT structure, the a-IGZO single active channel layer was replaced by double layers. Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) was employed as an enhanced-mobility current path material and was embedded in an amorphous Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide (a-IGZO) channel layer of a conventional bottom gate structure TFT. To analyze the effect of the length of an additional current path, the a-IGZO channel length was fixed at 80μm, and the length of the ITO enhanced-mobility current path was increased to 20, 40, and 60μm. As a result, the mobility increased monotonically with the length of the enhanced-mobility current path and was predictable from the rule of mixture. The maximum saturation mobility of 28.3cm2/Vs resulted when the length of the enhanced-mobility current path was 60μm. This value is more than double that of a single path TFT. Such enhancement in mobility is attributed to the high conductivity of ITO and a good conduction band match between a-IGZO and ITO.

High-efficiency flexible white organic light-emitting diodes

A high-efficiency flexible white organic light-emitting diode (OLED) was fabricated using effective device structure on high glass-transition plastic substrate with a thin silicon dioxide pre-coat and highly conductive indium tin oxide (ITO) deposited by radio frequency magnetron sputtering at elevated temperature. Sputtering ITO at 200 °C on a 150 A SiO2-modified polyethersulfone yielded a high power efficiency of 6.5 lm/W at 800 cd m−2 and a maximum external quantum efficiency of 3.2% with a pure-white emission of (0.321, 0.339). Besides device structure, the power efficiency of the flexible OLEDs depends strongly on the conductivity of ITO, which in turn depends on its surface topology, which can be most effectively improved by adding a SiO2 pre-coat of optimal thickness.

Influence of polyvinylpyrrolidone on properties of flexible electrically conducting indium tin oxide nanoparticle coatings

The influence of the organic film agent polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) on the electrical conductivity of indium tin oxide (ITO) nanoparticle coatings on polyethyleneterephthalate films was investigated. The ITO/PVP nanocomposite coatings show a decrease of the specific resistance with increasing PVP content up to 40 vol.%, whereas for higher PVP contents the specific resistance increases. The lowest specific resistance of 6 Ω cm is almost 20 times lower than that of a pure ITO nanoparticle coating. Annealing at 200 °C leads to a further decrease of the specific resistance for all volume fractions of PVP. Specific resistances of 0.5 Ω cm could be achieved for PVP contents of 33–40 vol.%. In addition, the PVP has a strong influence on the electrical conductivity of ITO/PVP coatings under bending which was investigated using a specially constructed device for the application of various bending loads. The ITO/PVP nanocomposite films show a significant lower increase of the sheet resistance under oscillatory bending compared to pure ITO nanoparticle coatings. However, the transmission in the visible range of ITO/PVP nanocomposites decreases with increasing PVP content up to 40 vol.%.

AlGaN/GaN HEMT With a Transparent Gate Electrode

AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) with indium tin oxide (ITO) transparent gate electrodes have been fabricated. The transparent gate electrodes enable the investigation of photon, electron, and phonon behaviors in active regions in HEMTs using optical characterizations such as electroluminescence, photoluminescence, and Raman spectroscopy technologies. Leakage current, on/off ratio, and transparency have been compared for transistors using Ni/Au/Ni, ITO, and Ni/ITO stacks as gate electrodes. Compared to the Ni/Au/Ni gate transistor, the ITO gate device shows a comparable current gain cutoff frequency ( <i xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">f</i> <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">T</sub> ) but a much lower power gain cutoff frequency ( <i xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">f</i> <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">max</sub> ) due to the low conductivity of ITO.