Influence of substrate temperature and O₂ flow on the properties of RF-magnetron-sputtered indium-tin-oxide thin films

Indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films have been deposited onto glass substrates by using RF magnetron sputtering at different substrate temperatures and at various oxygen (O₂) now rates. X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), UV-Vis spectroscopy and four-point probe techniques were used to investigate the structural, the surface morphological, the optical, and the electrical properties of the prepared films respectively. An increase in grain size and a decrease in surface roughness were observed for ITO films with increasing in O₂ flow rate and substrate temperature. The absorption band edge was found to shift towards the short- wavelength region with increasing of O₂ flow rate and with decrease of substrate temperature. The surface resistance was found to decrease with the increasing substrate temperature at a constant O₂ flow rate and to increase with increasing O₂ flow rate in the temperature range studied.