Effects of Magnetic Field Gradient on Crystallographic Properties in Tin-Doped Indium Oxide Films Deposited by Electron Cyclotron Resonance Plasma Sputtering

Abstract

Tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) films were deposited by sputtering of sintered oxide targets, employing an electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) microwave plasma system. The effects of Ar ion bombardment on crystallographic and electrical properties of the films were investigated with control of the ion energy by submagnetic field application. It was found that ion bombardment with energies lower than ∼ 40 eV enhances crystallization whereas bombardment with higher energies suppresses crystallization. The surface roughness of the film was below 50 Å. The smooth surface formation could be attributed to the microstructural modification arising from ion bombardment.

Deposition of indium tin oxide thin films by cathodic arc ion plating

“…Such a transmittance is very close to that of a similar ITO film of Kimura et al's [24] investigation, in which the lowest-resistivity (1.4Â10 À4 Vcm) ITO film deposited at 400 8C by DC sputtering exhibits a transmittance of about 83% at 550 nm. Because of the lack of their film thickness data, it is not possible to make a direction comparison between authors' and their results regarding optical properties.…”

“…High sputtering energy [22], high deposition temperature during sputtering [23], or using oxygen-free electron cyclotron resonance sputtering [24] has been observed to be favorable for the growth of (400) oriented ITO film. The underlying cause can be attributed to the anisotropy of erosion resistance against particle bombardment in different crystallographic directions, where the erosion increases in the order b110N, b100N, b111N in face-centered cubic metals [25].…”

Effects of water partial pressure on the activated electron beam evaporation process to deposit tin-doped indium-oxide films

“…It was reported that, for ITO films deposited by ECR sputtering, 36,37 Ar ϩ bombardment with energy lower than 40 eV enhanced crystallization. In HDPE deposition processes, the greater mobility of electrons leaves the plasma positively charged ͑plasma potential V p is approximately 10-20 V͒ with respect to the substrate ͑which, in our case, is left at a floating potential, V f Ϸ0͒, which causes Ar ϩ bombardment with energy of V p ϪV f during deposition.…”

“…It was reported for the ECR sputtering process that the plasma characteristics at the substrate surface could be controlled by a mirror ͑or cusp͒ submagnetic field. 36,37 In this study the plasma characteristics and deposition rate of the HDPE process were controlled by the magnetic field applied to the deposition zone, or by changing the configuration of the arc plasma generators and the substrate. Note that the O 2 , Ar, and water partial pressures, discharge current, and T s were kept constant for the following plasma emission measurements and the ITO depositions.…”

Effects of bias voltage on the properties of ITO films prepared on polymer substrates

“…Danson et al [3] believed that this kind of bombardment was beneficial to film crystallinity and could replace the energy provided by a higher substrate temperature. In addition, it is reported that composition of an ITO film was much dependent on substrate bias [4], and proper ion impact on the deposited film caused improvement of film properties [5].…”