Structural and electrical properties of low temperature deposited ITO films

Highly transparent thin films of indium tin oxide are important for different kinds of optical and electrical applications. So far, deposition of these materials has been limited to high temperature processes. This study describes a plasma ion-assisted evaporation process with substrate temperatures below 100°C and correlates the structural and electrical properties of the coatings with the process parameters. The influence of gas-mixture, mean ion energy and temperature has been investigated by four-point-measurement, atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and x-ray spectroscopy. The coatings exhibit mean extinction coefficients of 7BL10-3 in the VIS range and specific resistivities in the range of 4.0 µOmegam.