Sputtered Indium Tim Oxide Thin Films Deposited on Glass Substrate for Photovoltaic Application

Abstract

Polycrystalline indium tin oxide (ITO) films were prepared on glass substrates by radio frequency (RF) sputtering system from a high density target (90wt. In 2 O 3 and 10 wt. %SnO 2). X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) experiments were performed to study the structure and the surface morphology of these samples. The results show that the as-deposited ITO thin films deposited on glass have a <100> texture, as the film grows the preferred orientation changes from <100> to <111>. The lattice parameters are found to be larger than the bulk value, indicating that the samples are under a tensile stress. The grain size increases with increasing thickness. SEM images show a dense granular structure with grains having different shapes and sizes. After deposition, the samples have been annealed in air at temperature T around 400°C for 1 hour. We found that the <111> texture becomes stronger after the annealing treatment. A large increase in the grain size after annealing is also observed. The lattice constant decreases with T to become closer to the bulk value, i.e. annealing seems to relieve the stress present in the as-deposited films. The optical transmisión is greater than 80 % in the visible region.The refractive index n values are found to be in the 1.7-1.9 range. The energy gap values are between 3.58 and 3.88 eV .

Deposition and characterization of ITO thin film over glass for defogger application and for solar photovoltaics

“…The coating appears to be dense granular with average grain size varying in between 50 to 100 nm. Similar SEM images of ITO thin film deposited by sputtering and e-beam evaporation were also taken by previous researchers and were found to have dense granular structure [L. Kerkache et al, 2010;Shui-Yang Lien, 2010].…”

“…1 ITO is a very important transparent conducting oxide (TCO) and has applications in variety of fields such as flat panel displays, light emitting diodes, solar cells and optical coatings [L. Kerkache et al, 2010;Minami et al, 2005;Venkat et al, 2006;T. K. Kim et al, 2009].…”

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“…They can be made from various materials like semiconductors, oxides, or metals. Nanobelts exhibit unique electrical, optical, and mechanical properties [ [22] , [23] , [24] , [25] , [26] , [27] , [28] , [29] , [30] , [31] ]. ( Fig.…”

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“…In addition to this, there should be a simple way to produce these plates quickly and inexpensively in bulk. State of the art at present is the usage of ITO coatings, which can be found as front contacts in thin film solar cells, touch screen applications or even organic LEDs [1][2][3] . ITO coatings show very good transmittances of ~80-91 % in the range of the visible spectrum (~400-800 nm) 4,5 and sheet resistance in the range of 6-103 Ω/ , depending on layer thickness and method of deposition 6,7 .…”