Oxygen incorporation and charge donor activation via subplantation during growth of indium tin oxide films

Journal Article · Sun Mar 15 04:00:00 EDT 2009 · Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. A, International Journal Devoted to Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1116/1.3081970· OSTI ID:21195011

Amassian, A; Dudek, M; Zabeida, O; Gujrathi, S C; Klemberg-Sapieha, J E; Martinu, L ^[1]

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1. Regroupement quebecois sur les materiaux de pointe (RQMP) and Department of Engineering Physics, Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, P.O. Box 6079, Station Centre-ville, Montreal, Quebec H3C 3A7 (Canada)

The use of plasma assistance is shown to enhance the optoelectronic properties (i.e., transparency, free carrier density, and conductivity) of indium tin oxide (ITO) deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering by promoting the incorporation of oxygen in substoichiometric oxide films during magnetron sputtering. The authors demonstrate that subplantation of oxygen ions (O{sub 2}{sup +} and O{sup +}), i.e., their implantation to depths of several nanometers below the growth surface, is the primary pathway by which radio frequency plasma assistance at the substrate surface enhances oxygen incorporation during reactive magnetron sputtering of ITO. These conclusions are supported independently by elastic recoil detection measurements of ITO films in the time-of-flight regime and Monte Carlo TRIDYN simulations of oxygen ion bombardment in the reactive low-pressure plasma environment. The findings indicate that subplantation plays a crucial role in improving the optoelectronic properties of O-deficient ITO films.

• OSTI ID: 21195011
• Journal Information: Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. A, International Journal Devoted to Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films, Journal Name: Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. A, International Journal Devoted to Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 27; ISSN 1553-1813
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
CARRIER DENSITY
DEPOSITION
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
INDIUM
INDIUM COMPOUNDS
ION BEAMS
ION IMPLANTATION
MAGNETRONS
MONTE CARLO METHOD
OPACITY
OXYGEN
OXYGEN IONS
PLASMA
RADIOWAVE RADIATION
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
SPUTTERING
THIN FILMS
TIME-OF-FLIGHT METHOD
TIN OXIDES