Comparison of tin‐doped indium oxide films fabricated by spray pyrolysis and magnetron sputtering

Abstract

A comparison of the properties between Tin-doped Indium Oxide (ITO) films fabricated by sputtering and spray pyrolysis is presented. This analysis shows that the ITO films fabricated by DC magnetron sputtering in pure argon gas requires of a subsequent annealing for the improvement of their structural, electrical and optical properties, when they are compared to films fabricated by single-stage spray pyrolysis process that includes a new approach. The optimum annealing temperature for ITO films sputtered at room temperature lies in the 300-350°C range. Under such conditions, the ITO sputtered films are slightly more resistive than the resistivity (2 × 10 -4 -cm) shown by films sprayed at 480°C using a solution with a 5 % of tin to indium ratio, and almost four times the worst value of the combination of transparency and conductivity determined by the value of the figure of merit (FOM). The sprayed films have a high value of the FOM, 2.9×10 -2 -1 , which is comparable with the best published results.

Surface-Barrier Photodiodes with Transparent Electrodes for High-Performance Detection in the UV-NIR Spectrum

“…The parameters obtained allow to conclude that high-quality FTO and ITO films can be fabricated by a simple and inexpensive spray deposition method. Our recently published works [13,14] give more detailed information about the dependence of the film properties on the doping concentration as well as a comparison of our results with the ones published in literature.…”

“…The ITO films were deposited from solution contents 13.5 mg of InCl 3 × 4H 2 O dissolved in 170 ml of water and ethylic alcohol (1:1) mixture, with an addition of 5 ml of HCl to prevent hydrolysis. The different ratios of Sn/In in the solution were controlled by adding in the solution a calculated amount of tin chloride (SnCl 4 × 5H 2 O) [13]. As alternative, the ITO layers can be deposited by spraying a solution of Indium (III) acetate, In(OOCCH 3 ) 3 dissolved in ethanol at 25°C by adding Tin(IV) chloride, SnCl 4 × 5H 2 O, and HCl.…”

Sputtered Indium Tin Oxide Films for Optoelectronic Applications

“…The ITO target (90 wt% In 2 O 3 , 10 wt% SnO 2 ) was manufactured by AJA Corporation. Only pure argon was used as the working gas; the detailed deposition conditions can be found in our earlier reports [22,23]. The substrate surface was not heated and maintained at a temperature below 50°C.…”

“…Moreover, a low annealing temperature allows for the fabrication of the ITO film on flexible plastic substrates. The ITO films, whose XRD spectra are shown in Figure 10, have been successfully fabricated on the Kapton substrate with annealing in oxygen at 300°C during 1 hour [23].…”

“…In this section, we present a comparison of the properties of the ITO films, fabricated using a two-step process for fabrication of films (sputtering an annealing), with those properties obtained using a one-step spray pyrolysis process [6,23]; the second option is no expensive because it does not demand the use of sophisticated technological equipment. The spray pyrolysis is a stable and repetitive process very convenient for laboratory purposes and also for sufficiently large-scale production in the frame of small enterprises.…”