Effect of thickness on optoelectronic properties of ITO thin films

Purpose Indium tin oxide (ITO) is a material belonging to the group of transparent conductive oxides, which are widely used in many fields of technology including optoelectronics and photovoltaics. However, the properties of ITO thin films depend on many factors. Therefore, the aim of the study was thorough investigation of the properties of sputtered ITO thin films of various thicknesses. Design/methodology/approach ITO coatings were deposited by magnetron sputtering in pure argon atmosphere using ceramic ITO target. Various deposition times resulted in obtaining thin films with different thickness, which had significant influence on the optoelectronic properties of deposited coatings. In this work the results of investigation of structural, surface, optical and electrical properties were presented. Findings Increase of the coating thickness caused change of the microstructure from amorphous to nanocrystalline and occurrence of grains with a size of 40 to 60 nm on their surface. Moreover, the fundamental absorption edge was red-shifted, whereas the average transmission in the visible wavelength range remained similar. Increase of the thickness caused considerable decrease of the sheet resistance and resistivity. It was found that even thin films with a thickness of 10 nm had antistatic properties. Originality/value The novelty and originality of presented work consists in, among other, determination of antistatic properties of ITO thin films with various sheet resistances that are in the range typical for dielectric and semiconducting material. To date, there are no reports on such investigations in the literature. Reported findings might be very helpful in the case of, for example, construction of transparent antireflective and antistatic multilayers.