Growth and Characterisation of Radio Frequency Magnetron Sputttered Indium Tin Oxide Thin Films

The increasing interest in the interaction of light with electricity and electronically active materials made the materials and techniques for producing semitransparent electrically conducting films particularly attractive. Transparent conductors have found major applications in a number of electronic and optoelectronic devices including resistors, transparent heating elements, antistatic and electromagnetic shield coatings, transparent electrode for solar cells, antireflection coatings, heat reflecting mirrors in glass windows and many other. Tin doped indium oxide (indium tin oxide or ITO) is one of the most commonly used transparent conducting oxides. At present and likely well into the future this material offers best available performance in terms of conductivity and transmittivity combined with excellent environmental stability, reproducibility and good surface morphology. Although partial transparency, with a reduction in conductivity, can be obtained for very thin metallic films, high transparency and simultaneously high conductivity cannot be attained in intrinsic stoichiometric materials. The only way this can be achieved is by creating electron degeneracy in a wide bandgap (Eg > 3eV or more for visible radiation) material by controllably introducing non-stoichiometry and/or appropriate dopants. These conditions can be conveniently met for ITO as well as a number of other materials like Zinc oxide, Cadmium oxide etc. ITO shows interesting and technologically important combination of properties viz high luminous transmittance, high IR reflectance, good electrical conductivity, excellent substrate adherence and chemical inertness. ITO is a key part of solar cells, window coatings, energy efficient buildings, and flat panel displays. In solar cells, ITO can be the transparent, conducting top layer that lets light into the cell to shine the junction and lets electricity flow out. Improving the ITO layer can help improve the solar cell efficiency. A transparent ii conducting oxide is a material with high transparency in a derived part of the spectrum and high electrical conductivity. Beyond these key properties of transparent conducting oxides (TCOs), ITO has a number of other key characteristics. The structure of ITO can be amorphous, crystalline, or mixed, depending on the deposition temperature and atmosphere. The electro-optical properties are a function of the crystallinity of the material. In general, ITO deposited at room temperature is amorphous, and ITO deposited at higher temperatures is crystalline. Depositing at high temperatures is more expensive than at room temperature, and this method may not be compatible with the underlying devices. The main objective of this thesis work is to optimise the growth conditions of Indium tin oxide thin films at low processing temperatures. The films are prepared by radio frequency magnetron sputtering under various deposition conditions. The films are also deposited on to flexible substrates by employing bias sputtering technique. The films thus grown were characterised using different tools. A powder x-ray diffractometer was used to analyse the crystalline nature of the films. The energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDX) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used for evaluating the composition and morphology of the films. Optical properties were investigated using the UVVIS- NIR spectrophotometer by recording the transmission/absorption spectra. The electrical properties were studied using vander Pauw four probe technique. The plasma generated during the sputtering of the ITO target was analysed using Langmuir probe and optical emission spectral studies.

Low temperature synthesis of carbon nanotubes on indium tin oxide electrodes for organic solar cells

The electrical performance of indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass was improved by including a controlled layer of carbon nanotubes directly on top of the ITO film. Multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were synthesized by chemical vapor deposition, using ultra-thin Fe layers as catalyst. The process parameters (temperature, gas flow and duration) were carefully refined to obtain the appropriate size and density of MWCNTs with a minimum decrease of the light harvesting in the cell. When used as anodes for organic solar cells based on poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM), the MWCNT-enhanced electrodes are found to improve the charge carrier extraction from the photoactive blend, thanks to the additional percolation paths provided by the CNTs. The work function of as-modified ITO surfaces was measured by the Kelvin probe method to be 4.95 eV, resulting in an improved matching to the highest occupied molecular orbital level of the P3HT. This is in turn expected to increase the hole transport and collection at the anode, contributing to the significant increase of current density and open circuit voltage observed in test cells created with such MWCNT-enhanced electrodes.

Preparation and characterization of tin oxide nanowires on SiC

Interest in nanowires of metal oxide oxides has been exponentially growing in the last years, due to the attracting potential of application in electronic, optical and sensor field. We have focused our attention on the sensing properties of semiconducting nanowires as conductometric and optical gas sensors. Single crystal tin dioxide nanostructures were synthesized to explore and study their capability in form of multi-nanowires sensors. The nanowires of SnO2 have been used to produce a novel gas sensor based on Pt/oxide/SiC structure and operating as Schottky diode. For the first time, a reactive oxide layer in this device has been replaced by SnO2 nanowires. Proposed sensor has maintained the advantageous properties of known SiC- based MOS devices, that can be employed for the monitoring of gases (hydrogen and hydrocarbons) emitted by industrial combustion processes.

Directional synthesis of tin oxide@graphene nanocomposites via a one-step up-scalable wet-mechanochemical route for lithium ion batteries

Directional synthesis of SnO2@graphene nanocomposites via a one-step, low-cost, and up-scalable wetmechanochemical method is achieved using graphene oxide and SnCl2 as precursors. The graphene oxides are reduced to graphene while the SnCl2 is oxidized to SnO2 nanoparticles that are in situ anchored onto the graphene sheets evenly and densely, resulting in uniform SnO2@graphene nanocomposites. The prepared nanocomposites possess excellent electrochemical performance and outstanding cycling in Li-ion batteries.

A Method for the Deposition of Transparent Conducting Thin-Films of Tin Oxide

A modified method has been developed for the deposition of transparent semiconducting thin films of tin oxide, involving the chemical vapour phase oxidation of tin iodide. These films show sheet resistances greater than 100 Ω/□ and an average optical transmission in the visible range exceeding 80%. The method avoids uncontrolled contamination, resulting in better reproducibility of the films. The films showed direct and indirect transitions and the possibility of an indirect forbidden transition. X-ray diffraction studies reveal that the films are polycrystalline. The low mobility values of the films have been attributed to the grain boundary scattering effect.

Growth of tin oxide single crystals in porcelain tunnel kilns

Single crystals of tin oxide have been grown under conditions obtained in oil fired porcelain tunnel kilns. It was noted that the reducing conditions in the kilns help in the growth of SnO2 crystals at much lower temperatures (1300°C). The growth seems to more pronounced in presence of silicon carbide. The crystals grow as long fibres of 0.1 to 0.5 mm dia. and 10 to 50 mm length. The crystals exhibit rutile structure and the direction of growth seems to be favoured in any one of the major axes a and c.

Some properties of indium-tin oxide-films

Thin films of indium-tin oxide have been deposited by DC diode sputtering from an indium-tin alloy target in an argon, hydrogen and oxygen atmosphere. Films with sheet resistance of 11 ohms/square and 80% light transmission have been obtained. The effect of cathode composition and gas mixture on sheet resistance and optical transmission properties of the films have been studied.

Structural, optical and electrical characteristics of transparent bismuth vanadate films deposited on indium tin oxide coated glass substrates

Bismuth vanadate (BVO) thin films were fabricated on indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass substrates using pulsed laser ablation technique and investigated their structural, optical and electrical properties. The use of the indium tin oxide coated glass substrate resulted in reducing the leakage current characteristics of crystalline BVO thin films. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies confirmed the monophasic nature of the post annealed (500 A degrees C/1 h) films. The atomic force microscopy indicated the homogeneous distribution of crystallites in the as-deposited films. The as-deposited and the post annealed films were almost 90% transparent (380-900 nm) as confirmed by optical transmission studies. Dielectric constant of around 52 was attained accompanied by the low dielectric loss of 0.002 at 10 kHz for post annealed films. The leakage current of the post annealed BVO films on ITO coated glass substrates measured at room temperature was 8.1 x 10(-8) A at an applied electric field of 33 kV/cm, which was lower than that of the films with platinum and SrRuO3 as the bottom electrodes.

Antireflection properties of indium tin oxide (ITO) on silicon for photovoltaic applications

The short‐circuit current density (Jsc) of indium tin oxide (ITO/silicon solar cells has been shown both theoretically and experimentally to be a function of the thickness of the ion beam sputtered ITO layer. These results can be accounted for by computing the optical reflection from the ITO/silicon interface.

Novel mechanism for high speed growth of transparent and conducting tin oxide thin films by spray pyrolysis

A novel mechanism is proposed for efficient manipulation of transport forces acting on the droplets during spray pyrolytic deposition of thin films. A ‘‘burst mode’’ technique of spraying is used to adjust the deposition conditions so as to transport the droplets under the new mechanism. Transparent, conducting thin films of undoped tin oxide prepared by this method showed significant improvement in growth rate. The films are found to be of fairly good quality with optical transmission of 82% and sheet resistance of 35 Ω/☒. The films are chemically homogeneous and grow preferentially along 〈200〉 direction.

Temperature dependence of hydrogen evolution reaction on nickel oxide electrode in sealed nickel/cadmium cells

The impedance of sealed nickel/cadmium cells around a cell e.m.f. of 0.0 V was measured at five different temperatures between � 10 and +30 °C. The results show that the behaviour is similar at all temperatures. Based on the experimental results, the relation between charge-transfer resistance (Rct) and temperature (T) has been established for the Volmer reaction. Further, the value of cathodic transfer coefficient (?) has been estimated.

Gas Sensing Properties of Tin Oxide Powder Synthesized in the Presence of Surfactants

Nanocrystalline tin oxide powder was prepared using a solution precipitation technique after adding the surfactant sodium bis (2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate (AOT). Powders were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), surface area (BET) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The gas sensitivity for surfactant added powders increased for liquid petroleum gas (LPG) as well as compressed natural gas (CNG), due to the decreased particle size and the increased surface area. The LPG gas sensitivity increased several times using phosphorus treated surfactant AOT.