High Crystallization of Ultra-Thin Indium Tin Oxide Films Prepared by Direct Current Magnetron Sputtering with Post-Annealing

作者：Kim Min Je; Song Pung Keun^*

来源：Science of Advanced Materials, 2016, 8(3): 622-626.

DOI：10.1166/sam.2016.2517

• ITO
• Reactive Sputtering
• Post-Annealing
• Crystallization

ITO (ITO) thin films with a thickness of 30 nm were deposited by a reactive DC magnetron sputtering using an In/Sn (2 wt%) metal alloy target at. different substrate temperatures (room temperature and 140 degrees C) followed by annealing in air. An ITO film annealed for 4 h showed the lowest resistivity (3.8 x 10(-4) Omega . cm). The Hall mobility was increased remarkably by crystallizing the ITO thin film after annealing in air, but there was no significant difference in its carrier density. Therefore, it can be confirmed that the resistivity of crystallized ITO films after their subsequent annealing is strongly dominated by the Hall mobility rather than the carrier concentration. The nucleation and grain growth of the film were clearly observed by a transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis. In the case of the as-deposited ITO film at room temperature, crystallization was completed with a post-annealing time of 3 h, and an analysis revealed the grain size to be in the range of 300-500 nm. As a result, the large increase in the Hall mobility could be due to the decreased grain boundary scattering caused by the larger grain size.

• 出版日期2016-3