The formation of granule-like balls on the surface of indium-tin oxide
(ITO) films induced by atomic hydrogen (H-) treatment in plasma-enhan
ced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) and hot-wire chemical vapor depo
sition (HW-CVD) tools is reported in this paper. The ball formation on
the film surface is responsible for the reduction in optical transmit
tance and electrical conductivity of ITO films. The X-ray diffraction
patterns have revealed that the H-treated ITO surfaces are composed of
complicated compounds, including metallic indium, indium tin oxides,
and indium hydroxides. Anger electron spectroscopy has shown that the
balls are rich in indium atoms and areas outside the balls are rich in
oxygen atoms. Finally, we have shown that by capping the ITO surface
with a PECVD silicon oxide thin film, the degradation of ITO films can
be completely prevented. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.