Investigation of annealing effects on indium tin oxide thin films by electron energy loss spectroscopy

Indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films have been deposited on substrates by the thermal evaporation method, followed by annealing in air. Post annealing effects on the composition and quality of ITO thin films were characterized by electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscop...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Thin solid films 2000-01, Vol.359 (2), p.244-250
Main Authors: Zhu, Furong, Huan, C.H.A., Zhang, Keran, Wee, A.T.S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analytical chemistry
Annealing effects
Chemistry
Composition and phase identification
Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties
Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties
Deposition process
Diffusing species
Electron energy loss spectroscopy
Electron spectroscopy (x-ray photoelectron (XPS), Auger electron spectroscopy(AES), etc.)
Exact sciences and technology
Gotoelectronic devices
Indium tin oxide
Optical properties and condensed-matter spectroscopy and other interactions of matter with particles and radiation
Optical properties of specific thin films
Other semiconductors
Physics
Spectrometric and optical methods
Surfaces and interfaces
thin films and whiskers (structure and nonelectronic properties)
Thin film structure and morphology
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Summary:Indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films have been deposited on substrates by the thermal evaporation method, followed by annealing in air. Post annealing effects on the composition and quality of ITO thin films were characterized by electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). Spectroscopic and optical measurements showed that the low transparency of an as-deposited ITO film was mainly caused by diffusing species which probably consisted of reduced metallic indium particles and defects in the film formed during the preparation. EELS results revealed that these metallic indium particles could be removed by an annealing process leading to uniformly transparent conducting film. This work demonstrates that EELS is a sensitive method to diagnose the presence of the metallic indium in ITO films.
ISSN:0040-6090
1879-2731
DOI:10.1016/S0040-6090(99)00882-2