Properties of conducting transparent oxide films produced by ion plating onto room-temperature substrates

Abstract

Indium and indium 10% tin oxide films have been produced on room-temperature insulating substrates and have exhibited high conductivities which compare with the best reported for films made at substrate temperatures of 450 °C and higher. They were made by the evaporation and sputtering of the metals in an atmosphere of argon and oxygen onto a substrate which was one electrode of a rf discharge providing surface bombardment of the substrate. The properties of the films were a function of the oxygen partial pressure, the rf bias voltage, the rate of formation, and gas throughput. It was possible to produce films with mobilities up to 40 cm2 V−1 s−1 with carrier densities up to 3×1020 cm−3 and with conductivities up to 5×104 (Ω m)−1, all of which were transparent in the visible region of the spectrum.