Influence of ITO Target on Structural, Optical, and Electrical Properties of Thin Films Deposited by Magnetron Sputtering

Abstract Indium tin oxide (ITO) targets possess good performances, thereby used to produce high-quality ITO films in transparent electrodes of various optoelectronic devices. The performance of the target greatly affects the performances of prepared ITO films. However, effect of the overall performance of ITO targets on ITO films performance is still not fully understood. ITO films were prepared with four targets by magnetron sputtering in the similar condition in this study. Effects of crystal structure, resistivity, and oxygen content of the targets on photoelectric performances of ITO films were all evaluated. Results showed the important effect of target properties on obtained film characteristics. ITO films prepared by low resistivity targets are more evenly distributed on the substrate surface. Meanwhile, oxygen content of obtained ITO films decreased as oxygen content of ITO targets used in sputtering process increased. This also significantly improved the photoelectric performances. ITO thin films deposited using targets with low resistivity and low oxygen content exhibited excellent photoelectric performances. In this experiment, the prepared ITO film illustrated the lowest resistivity of 1.75×10 −4 Ω·cm and average transmittance of 90.5%. In sum, these findings provided a certain experimental basis for further improving the performances of ITO films.