Fo. Adurodija et al., Effect of laser irradiation on the properties of indium tin oxide films deposited by pulsed laser deposition, APPL SURF S, 177(1-2), 2001, pp. 114-121
High quality indium tin oxide (ITO) firms of thickness 80 +/- 20 nm grown b
y laser irradiation of the glass substrates during pulsed laser deposition
are reported. Films were deposited from a 5 wt.% SnO2-doped In2O3 target at
substrate temperatures (T,) ranging from room temperature (RT) to 400 degr
eesC and oxygen pressure (PO2) of 1.3 Pa. The energy of the laser beam focu
sed unto the middle of the glass substrate during coatings was about 70 mJ
cm(-2). The structural, electrical and optical properties of the laser-irra
diated and the nonirradiated parts of the ITO films were studied as a funct
ion of T-s. Crystalline films with (I I I) preferred orientation and crysta
l sizes much greater than 200 nm were obtained at all T-s. At RT, the resis
tivity of the laser-irradiated part of one him was 1.2 x 10(-4) Ohm cm comp
ared with 2.3 x 10(-4) Ohm cm for a nonirradiated part. At 300 degreesC, a
low resistivity value of 8.5 x 10(-5) Ohm cm was achieved for both the lase
r-irradiated and the nonirradiated parts of the ITO film. The achievement o
f low resistivity resulted from the high carrier concentration similar to 1
.2 x 10(21) cm(-3) and the high Hall mobility (40-57) cm(2) V-1 s(-1). The
films also exhibited high optical transmittance (similar to 90%) to visible
light. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V, All rights reserved.