High resolution x-ray photoemission study of plasma oxidation of indium-tin-oxide thin film surfaces

The influence of plasma oxidation and other surface pretreatments on the el ectronic structure of indium-tin-oxide (ITO) thin films has been studied by high resolution x-ray photoemission spectroscopy. Plasma oxidation compens ates n-type doping in the near surface region and leads to a reduction in t he energy of plasmon satellite structure observed in In 3d core level spect ra. In parallel, the Fermi level moves down within the conduction band, lea ding to a shift to low binding energy for both core and valence band photoe mission features; and the work function increases by a value that correspon ds roughly to the core and valence band binding energy shifts. These observ ations suggest that the conduction band of ITO is fixed relative to the vac uum level and that changes of work function are dominated by shifts of the Fermi level within the conduction band. (C) 2000 American Institute of Phys ics. [S0021-8979(00)04621-1].