Skip to main content
Log in

Electrical and optical properties of indium-tin oxide (ITO) films by ion-assisted deposition (IAD) at room temperature

  • Published:
International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Indium-tin oxide (ITO) films have been traditionally deposited at elevated substrate temperature of 400°C to achieve low resistivity and high transmission. In some cases, films deposited at low substrate temperatures can be annealed at higher temperature to achieve lower resistivity. In this paper, thin films of ITO with various oxygen flow rates are prepared by ion-assisted electron beam evaporation at room temperature. Electrical, optical and structural properties of ITO thin films have been investigated with the function of oxygen flow rate, rate of deposition and layer thickness. Low resistivity of 7.5 × 10−4Ω-cm, high optical transmittance of 85% at wavelength 550 nm, optical band-gap of 4.2 eV and crystalline ITO films can be achieved at room temperature almost one order smaller than that prepared by other method.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Martin, P. M., “Handbook of Deposition Technologies for Films and Coatings: Science, Applications and Technology,” Elsevier Science, 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Wen, A. J. C., Chen, K. L., Yang, M. H., Hsiao, W. T., Chao, L. G., and Leu, M. S., “Effect of substrate angle on properties of ITO films deposited by cathodic arc ion plating with In-Sn alloy target,” Surface and Coatings Technology, Vol. 198, No. 1–3, pp. 362–366, 2005.

  3. Pokaipisit, A., Horprathum, M., and Limsuwan, P., “Vacuum and air annealing effects on properties of indium tin oxide films prepared by ion-assisted electron beam evaporation,” Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 47, No. 6, pp. 4692–4695, 2008.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Ensinger, W., “Ion sources for ion beam assisted thin-film deposition,” Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 63, No. 11, pp. 5217–5233, 1992.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. McNally, J. J., “Ion assisted deposition of optical coatings,” Ph.D. Thesis, AIR FORCE INST OF TECH WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB OH., 1986.

    Google Scholar 

  6. McNeil, J. R., Barron, A. C., Wilson, S. R., and Herrmann Jr, W. C., “Ion-assisted deposition of optical thin films: low energy vs high engergy bombardment,” Applied Optics, Vol. 23, No. 4, pp. 552–559, 1984.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. McNeil, J. R., Al-Jumaily, G. A., Jungling, K. C., and Barron, A. C., “Properties of TiO2 and SiO2 thin films deposited using ion assisted deposition,” Appl. Opt., Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 486–489, 1985.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Bright, C., “Optical constants of evaporated and sputtered transparent conductive oxides,” Proceedings of Annual Technical Conference on Soceity of Vacuum Coaters, pp. 63–67, 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Marcovitch, O., Klein, Z., and Lubezky, I., “Transparent conductive indium oxide film deposited on low temperature substrates by activated reactive evaporation,” Appl. Opt., Vol. 28, No. 14, pp. 2792–2795, 1989.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Gilbert, L. R., Maki, S. P., and McClure, D. J., “Comparison of ITO sputtering process from ceramic and alloy targets onto room temperature PET substrates,” Proceedings of Annual Technical Conference on Soceity of Vacuum Coaters, pp. 236–241, 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Gibbons, K. P., Carniglia, C. K., Laird, R. E., Newcomb, R. E., Wolfe, J. D., and Westra, S. W. T., “ITO coatings for display applications,” Proceedings of 54th Annual Conference on the SVC, Vol. 232, 2007.

  12. Molzen, W. W., “Characterization of transparent conductive thin films of indium oxide,” Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 99–102, 1975.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Zalnezhad, E., Sarhan, A. A. D. M., and Hamdi, M., “Prediction of TiN coating adhesion strength on aerospace AL7075-T6 alloy using fuzzy rule based system,” Int. J. Precis. Eng. Manuf., Vol. 13, No. 8, pp. 1453–1459, 2012.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Zalnezhad, E., Sarhan, A. A. D. M., and Hamdi, M., “Surface hardness prediction of CrN thin film coating on AL7075-T6 alloy using fuzzy logic system,” Int. J. Precis. Eng, Manuf., Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 467–473, 2013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Biswas, P. K., De, A., Dua, L. K., and Chkoda, L., “Surface characterization of sol-gel derived indium tin oxide films on glass,” Bulletin of Materials Science, Vol. 29, No. 3, pp. 323–330, 2006.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. May, C. and Strümpfel, J., “ITO coating by reactive magnetron sputtering-comparison of properties from DC and MF processing,” Thin Solid Films, Vol. 351, No. 1–2, pp. 48–52, 1999.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Honda, S., Tsujimoto, A., Watamori, M., and Oura, K., “Oxygen content of indium tin oxide films fabricated by reactive sputtering,” Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces and Films, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 1100–1103, 1995.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Dobrowolski, J. A., Ho, F. C., Menagh, D., Simpson, R., and Waldorf, A., “Transparent, conducting indium tin oxide films formed on low or medium temperature substrates by ion-assisted deposition,” Appl. Opt., Vol. 26, No. 24, pp. 5204–5210, 1987.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Liu, C., Matsutani, T., Yamamoto, N., and Kiuchi, M., “High-quality indium tin oxide films prepared at room temperature by oxygen ion beam assisted deposition,” Europhysics Letters, Vol. 59, No. 4, pp. 606, 2002.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Manifacier, J. C., De Murcia, M., Fillard, J. P., and Vicario, E., “Optical and electrical properties of SnO2 thin films in relation to their stoichiometric deviation and their crystalline structure,” Thin Solid Films, Vol. 41, No. 2, pp. 127–135, 1977.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Swanepoel, R., “Determination of surface roughness and optical constants of inhomogeneous amorphous silicon films,” Journal of Physics E: Scientific Instruments, Vol. 17, No. 10, pp. 896, 1984.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Ray, S., Banerjee, R., Basu, N., Batabyal, A. K., and Barua, A. K., “Properties of tin doped indium oxide thin films prepared by magnetron sputtering,” Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 54, No. 6, pp. 3497–3501, 1983.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Wang, R. X., Beling, C. D., Djuriši, “Properties of ITO thin films deposited on amorphous and crystalline substrates with e-beam evaporation,” Semiconductor Science and Technology, Vol. 19, No. 6, pp. 695–698, 2004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Izumi, H. Ishihara, T. Yoshioka, H. Matsui, H., and Motoyama, M., “45th Spring Meeting,” Japan Society of Applied Physics and Related Societies, 1998.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Abdul Razak Bushroa.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Farhan, M.S., Zalnezhad, E., Bushroa, A.R. et al. Electrical and optical properties of indium-tin oxide (ITO) films by ion-assisted deposition (IAD) at room temperature. Int. J. Precis. Eng. Manuf. 14, 1465–1469 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12541-013-0197-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12541-013-0197-5

Keywords

Navigation