The effect of solvents and the thickness on structural, optical and electrical properties of ITO thin films prepared by a sol–gel spin-coating process

Abstract

In this study, tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) thin films were produced by the sol-gel spin-coating technique with an inexpensive salt of indium (In(NO 3 ) 3-H 2 O) and SnCl 4 as indium and tin precursors (the molar ratio of In:Sn was 9:1), respectively. Then the prepared thin films were annealed in the temperature of 550°C under argon atmosphere (the pressure of 10 torr). Polyvinylalcohol (PVA) was used as stabilizers in the synthesis of ITO sol. The prepared ITO thin films were characterized by EDX, XRD, FT-IR, UV-Vis spectroscopy and SEM images. The XRD patterns of the thin films indicated the main peak of the (2 2 2) plane corresponded to indium oxide with high degree of crystallinity. The FT-IR spectroscopy confirmed that indium tin oxide has been prepared by appearance of a peak at 470 cm -1 that can be assigned to the vibrations of In-O bonds. The optical direct band gap of ITO thin films was calculated about 3.98-4.17 eV by optical transmittance measurements. The grain size of ITO nanoparticles was obtained at about 25-50 nm by SEM images. The electrical characterization was done by the four-point probe method to determine the sheet resistance and resistivity. The effects of coating number on ITO thin films properties were investigated. The low resistivity (sheet resistance of 2.5 kX/cm 2 ) and highly transparent films were obtained that can be applied as covers on heater windows. Appearance of a peak at 470 cm -1 can be assigned to the vibrations of In-O bonds and are characteristic of cubic In 2 O 3 .

Effect of Deposition Voltage on Layer Thickness, Microstructure, Cu/Ni Sheet Resistivity of Deposition Results by Magnetic Field Electroplating Assisted Technique

“…It can be seen in the graph in Figure 7 that crystal size increase with the increase of deposition voltage and thickness. This is consistent with the results of the previous study that increasing the number of coatings increases the size of the crystal [12]. The increase in crystal size will have an impact on decreasing sheet resistivity [13].…”

“…Then the distance between the Bragg plane (d) is determined at the peak of the first and second Ni diffractions, each graph shown in Figures 8 and 9. The distance between Bragg planes satisfies equation (12). Through this equation, it appears that the distance between the Bragg planes is influenced by the diffraction angle of 2 theta.…”

“…Fourth, determine the distance between Bragg planes ( d ) through equation (12 Then determine the thickness of the formed Ni layer (  ) using equation (11). The graph of the relationship between the thickness of the nickel layer formed and the deposition voltage shown in Figure 3.…”

Controller of fluorine­doped tin oxide thin films deposition via cycles and annealing temperatures by spin coating techniques

“…al. in 2014 [16] conducted a study on the effect of solution and coating thickness on the manufacture of tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) using SnCl 4 as precursors, indium nitrate hydrate as dopants then using ethanol (Merck Co.) and acetyl acetone (AcAc, Merck Co., (98 %) as a variety of solvents. As we know, indium nitrate hydrate is one of the economic doping agents, so an alternative to replace indium nitrate is needed.…”

Experimental and Computational Exploration of the Dilute Magnetic Delafossite CuAl1-xFexO2 Alloys

“…In this work, the surface topography and the elemental composition are measured among various types of information that can be achieved by using scanning electron microscopy. Here is a summary of the secondary electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) that can provide information about the surface and elemental composition and the discussion of the results of the measured sample [66,67].…”