Influence of sputtering power on optical, electrical properties and structure of aluminum-doped indium saving indium-tin oxide thin films sputtered on preheated substrates

Abstract

The indium tin oxide (ITO) thin film doped with aluminum oxide with reduced to 50 mass% indium oxide content were fabricated by co-sputtering of the ITO and Al₂O₃ targets. Thin films were deposited in mixed argon–oxygen atmosphere onto glass substrates preheated at 523 K. The dependence of the electrical, optical and structural properties of the films on radio frequency (RF) power of the Al₂O₃ target was investigated. The obtained thin films were characterized by means of four-point probe, Ultraviolet-Visible-Infrared (UV–Vis-IR) spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction (XRD) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Doping of the ITO thin films by Al₂O₃ resulted in increasing transmittance of films. It has been found that the film sputtered under optimum condition showed values of volume resistivity 713 µΩcm, electron mobility 30.8 cm²V⁻¹s⁻¹ and carrier density 2.87 × 10²⁰ cm⁻³.

Keywords:

• Aluminum-doped indium tin oxide
• direct current sputtering
• electrical properties
• optical properties
• radio frequency sputtering

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), Japan.