Zero added oxygen for high quality sputtered ITO. A data science investigation of reduced Sn-content and added Zr

Journal Article · Tue Jan 19 00:00:00 EST 2016 · Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1116/1.4939830· OSTI ID:1238327

Peshek, Timothy J. ^[1]; Burst, James M. ^[1]; Coutts, Timothy J. ^[1]; Gessert, Timothy A. ^[1]

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1. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Here, we demonstrate mobilities of >45 cm²/V s for sputtered tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) films at zero added oxygen. All films were deposited with 5 wt. % SnO₂, instead of the more conventional 8–10 wt. %, and had varying ZrO₂ content from 0 to 3 wt. %, with a subsequent reduction in In₂O₃ content. Moreover, these films were deposited by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering from nominally stoichiometric targets with varying oxygen partial pressure in the sputter ambient. Anomalous behavior was discovered for films with no Zr-added, where a bimodality of high and low mobilities was discovered for nominally similar growth conditions. However, all films showed the lowest resistivity and highest mobilities when the oxygen partial pressure in the sputter ambient was zero. This result is contrasted with several other reports of ITO transport performance having a maximum for small but nonzero oxygen partial pressure. Our result is attributed to the reduced concentration of SnO₂. The addition of ZrO₂ yielded the highest mobilities at >55 cm²/V s and the films showed a modest increase in optical transmission with increasing Zr-content.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 1238327
• Report Number(s): NREL/JA-5K00-65866; JVTAD6
• Journal Information: Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A, Vol. 34, Issue 2; ISSN 0734-2101
• Publisher: American Vacuum Society
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
thin films
sputter deposition
electrical resistivity
carrier density
high pressure