• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.16 no.8
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• pp.490-496
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• 2006

ITO monolayer and ITO/Ag/ITO multilayer thin films are prepared by D.C. magnetron sputtering method. Ag layer was inserted for applying ITO to a flexible substrate at low temperature. Carrier concentration and carrier mobility of ITO and ITO/Ag/ITO thin films were measured, the transmittance of them also was done. The amorphous phase was confirmed to be combined in addition to (400) and (440) peaks from XRD result of ITO thin film. As the substrate temperature increased, the preferred orientation of (400) appeared. From the result of application of Ag layer at room temperature, the growth of columnar structure was inhibited, and the amorphous phase formed mostly. The ITO/Ag/ITO thin film represented the transmittance of above 80% when the thickness of Ag layer was 50 ${\AA}$, and the concentration of carrier increased up to above 10 times than that of ITO thin film. Finally, since very low resistance of 3.9${\Omega}/{\square}$ was observed, the effective application of low temperature process is expected to be possible for ITO thin film.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.288-289
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• 2011

Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) is a typical highly Transparent Conductive Oxide (TCO) currently used as a transparent electrode material. Most widely used deposition method is the sputtering process for ITO film deposition because it has a high deposition rate, allows accurate control of the film thickness and easy deposition process and high electrical/optical properties. However, to apply high quality ITO thin film in a flexible microelectronic device using a plastic substrate, conventional DC magnetron sputtering (DMS) processed ITO thin film is not suitable because it needs a high temperature thermal annealing process to obtain high optical transmittance and low resistivity, while the generally plastic substrates has low glass transition temperatures. In the room temperature sputtering process, the electrical property degradation of ITO thin film is caused by negative oxygen ions effect. This high energy negative oxygen ions(about over 100eV) can be critical physical bombardment damages against the formation of the ITO thin film, and this damage does not recover in the room temperature process that does not offer thermal annealing. Hence new ITO deposition process that can provide the high electrical/optical properties of the ITO film at room temperature is needed. To solve these limitations we develop the Magnetic Field Shielded Sputtering (MFSS) system. The MFSS is based on DMS and it has the plasma limiter, which compose the permanent magnet array (Fig.1). During the ITO thin film deposition in the MFSS process, the electrons in the plasma are trapped by the magnetic field at the plasma limiters. The plasma limiter, which has a negative potential in the MFSS process, prevents to the damage by negative oxygen ions bombardment, and increases the heat(-) up effect by the Ar ions in the bulk plasma. Fig. 2. shows the electrical properties of the MFSS ITO thin film and DMS ITO thin film at room temperature. With the increase of the sputtering pressure, the resistivity of DMS ITO increases. On the other hand, the resistivity of the MFSS ITO slightly increases and becomes lower than that of the DMS ITO at all sputtering pressures. The lowest resistivity of the DMS ITO is $1.0{\times}10-3{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ and that of the MFSS ITO is $4.5{\times}10-4{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$. This resistivity difference is caused by the carrier mobility. The carrier mobility of the MFSS ITO is 40 $cm^2/V{\cdot}s$, which is significantly higher than that of the DMS ITO (10 $cm^2/V{\cdot}s$). The low resistivity and high carrier mobility of the MFSS ITO are due to the magnetic field shielded effect. In addition, although not shown in this paper, the roughness of the MFSS ITO thin film is lower than that of the DMS ITO thin film, and TEM, XRD and XPS analysis of the MFSS ITO show the nano-crystalline structure. As a result, the MFSS process can effectively prevent to the high energy negative oxygen ions bombardment and supply activation energies by accelerating Ar ions in the plasma; therefore, high quality ITO can be deposited at room temperature.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.146-151
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• 2004

Indium tin oxide (ITO) is widely used to make a transparent conducting film for various display devices and opto-electric devices. In this study, ITO films on glass substrate were fabricated by inductively coupled plasma (ICP) assisted dc magnetron sputtering. A two-turn rf coil was inserted in the process chamber between the substrate and magnetron for the generation of ICP. The substrates were not heated intentionally. Subsequent post-annealing treatment for as-deposited ITO films was not performed. Low-temperature deposition technique is required for ITO films to be used with heat sensitive plastic substrates, such as the polycarbonate and acrylic substrates used in LCD devices. The surface roughness of the ITO films is also an important feature in the application of OLEDs along with the use of a low temperature deposition technique. In order to obtain optimum ITO thin film properties at low temperature, the depositions were carried out at different condition in changing of Ar and $O_2$ gas mixtures, ICP power. The electrical, optical and structural properties of the deposited films were characterized by four-point probe, UV/VIS spectrophotometer, atomic force microscopy(AFM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD). The electrical resistivity of the films was -l0$^{-4}$ $\Omega$cm and the optical transmittance in the visible range was ＞85%. The surface roughness ( $R_{rms}$) was -20$\AA$.>.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.393-400
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• 2012

The characteristics of indium tin oxide (ITO) thin film deposited on polyethersulfone (PES) film by low temperature E beam has been studied for the flexible photovoltaic devices. It was found that the substrate temperature in the deposition process affected the crystallization behavior of ITO during the post low temperature annealing process. Higher substrate temperature resulted in the increase of crystallinity of annealed ITO. Consequently, the lowering of sheet resistivity and better transmittance were obtained. Crystallization of ITO during the annealing process was facilitated by using oxygen gas in the deposition process and resulted in the enhancement on sheet resistivity and transmittance of ITO. The surface roughness of PES film prohibited the crystallization of ITO during the annealing process and it caused the increase of sheet resistivity and the decrease of transmittance of ITO.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.39 no.8
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• pp.12-16
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• 2002

It is confirmed that the ITO(Indium Tin Oxide) thin films can be etched by low-temperature plasma at atmospheric pressure. The etching happened deepest at a hydrogen flow rate of 4 sccm, and the etch rate was 120 /min. The etching speed corresponded to the H$\alpha$* emission intensity The etching mechanism of the ITO thin films is as follows; thin films were reduced by H$\alpha$*, and the metal compound residues were detached from the substrate by reacting on the CH* The etching was started after etching time of initial 50 sec and above the threshold temperature of 145$^{\circ}C$. The activation energy of 0.16 eV(3.75 Kcal/mole) was obtained from the Arrehenius plots.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 1995.05a
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• pp.35-38
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• 1995

Indium Tin Oxide(ITO) thin film is transparent to visible ray and conductive in electricity. It is seen that the samples made by the sputtering process have high transmission rate to visible ray and high adhesion , but the planar type magnetron sputtering process with is very well known in industrial region have a defect of partial erosion on the surface of target and a high loss of target and also since the substrate is positioned in plasma, the damage on thin film surface is caused by the reaction with plasma. In cylindrical magnetron sputtering system. it is known that the loss of target is little , the damage of thin film is very little and the adhesion of thin film with substrate is strong. In this study, we have made ITO thin film in the cylindrical DC magnetron system with the variable of substrate temperature , magnetic field, vacuum condution and the applied voltage. The general temperature for formation on ITO is asked at 350 $^{\circ}C$~400$^{\circ}C$ but we have made ITO is low temperature(80-150$^{\circ}C$) By studing electrical and optical properties of ITO thin fims made by varing several condition, we have searched the optimal condition for formation in the best ITO in low temperature.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.162-162
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• 2016

We present multifunctional indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films formed at room temperature by a normal sputtering system equipped with a plasma limiter which effectively blocks the bombardment of energetic negative oxygen ions (NOIs). The ITO thin film possesses not only low resistivity but also high gas diffusion barrier properties even though it is deposited on a plastic substrate at room temperature without post annealing. Argon neutrals incident to substrates in the sputtering have an optimal energy window from 20 to 30 eV under the condition of blocking energetic NOIs to form ITO nano-crystalline structure. The effect of blocking energetic NOIs and argon neutrals with optimal energy make the resistivity decrease to $3.61{\times}10-4{\Omega}cm$ and the water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) of 100 nm thick ITO film drop to $3.9{\times}10-3g/(m2day)$ under environmental conditions of 90% relative humidity and 50oC, which corresponds to a value of ~ 10-5 g/(m2day) at room temperature and air conditions. The multifunctional ITO thin films with low resistivity and low gas permeability will be highly valuable for plastic electronics applications.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.186-186
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• 2015

We have introduced multifunctional ITO single thin films formed by normal sputtering system equipped with a plasma limiter which effectively blocks the bombardment of energetic negative oxygen ions. MFSS ITO also possesses high gas diffusion barrier properties simultaneously low resistivity even it deposited at room temperature without post annealing on plastic substrate. Nano-crystalline enhancement by Ar energy has energy window from 20 to 30 eV under blocking NOI condition. Effect of blocking NOI and optimal Ar energy window enhancement facilitate that resistivity is minimized to $3.61{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}cm$ and the WVTR of 100 nm thick MFSS ITO is $3.9{\times}10^{-3}g/(m^2day)$ which is measured under environmental conditions of 90% relative humidity and 50oC that corresponds to a value of ${\sim}10^{-5}g/(m^2day)$ at room temperature. The multifunctional MFSS ITO with low resistivity, and low gas permeability will be highly valuable for plastic electronics applications.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.93-93
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• 2011

The Indium Zinc Tin Oxide (IZTO) and Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) thin films are grown on PI substrate at different substrate temperature by pulsed DC magnetron sputtering with a sintered ceramic target of IZTO (In2O3 70 wt.%, ZnO 15 wt.%, SnO2 15 wt.%) and ITO (In2O3 90wt.%, SnO2 10wt.%). The structural, electrical, and optical properties are investigated. The IZTO thin films deposited at low temperature showed relatively low electrical resistivity compared to ITO thin films deposited at low temperature. As a result, we could prepare the IZTO thin films with the resistivity as low as $5.6{\times}10^{-4}({\Omega}{\cdot}m)$. Both of the films deposited on PI substrate showed an average transmittance over 80% in visible range (400.800nm). Overall, IZTO thin film is a promising candidate as an alternative TCO material to ITO in flexible and OLED devices.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.10a
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• pp.22.1-22.1
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• 2011

In this study, off-axis RF magnetron sputtering was used for the crystallized ITO thin films at a low temperature of about $120^{\circ}C$ instead of the conventional RF sputtering because the off-axis sputtering can avoid the damage for the plasma as well as fabrication of thin films with a high quality. The structural, optical and electrical properties of the obtained films depending on deposition parameters, such as sputtering power, gas flow and working pressure, have been investigated. The ITO thin films grown on PET substrate at $120^{\circ}C$ were crystallized with a (222) preferred orientation. 100-nm thick ITO films showed a resistivity of about $4.2{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}-cm$ and a transmittance of about 81% at a wavelength of 550nm. The transmittance of the ITO thin films by an insertion of $SiO_2$ thin films on ITO films was improved.