Microstructure and performances of ITO film prepared by ion beam sputtering

Abstract

Ion beam sputtering deposition was firstly introduced to prepare indium tin oxide (ITO) film in this study. The ITO film was annealed at different temperature in a flow of nitrogen or air, respectively. The effect of annealing process on the microstructure, optical and electrical performances of the ITO film was studied. The results showed that the crystallinity and optical properties of the ITO film were improved with the increase of annealing temperature. The transmittance of the ITO film in visible regions increased up to 96% after it was annealed at 500℃ in nitrogen or in air. It was found that the resistivity of ITO film depended on both the annealing temperature and the annealing atmosphere, which showed a close relationship to the atomic percentage’s sum of oxygen vacancy and Sn⁴⁺, which was quantified by XPS result.