Journal of Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials Vol. 2, No. 5, 2000, p. 684-688
Section 9: Thin films and multilayers
CHARACTERIZATION OF ITO THIN FILMS PREPARED BY SPINNING
DEPOSITION STARTING FROM A SOL-GEL PROCESS
T.F. Stoica, T.A. Stoica, M. Zaharescua, M. Popescu, F. Sava, N. Popescu-Pogrion, L.Frunza
National Institute of Materials Physics, P.O. Box Mg. 7, 76900-Bucharest-Magurele,
Romania
aInstitute of Physical Chemistry “I.G. Murgulescu”of the Romanian Academy
of Sciences, Splaiul Independentei 202, 77208-Bucharest, Romania
ITO thin films were deposited by spin coating method starting from indium and tin propoxide
in the frame of a sol-gel process. Films with the thickness corresponding to 68 nm for one
layer deposition were produced and characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron
microscopy and infrared reflection spectroscopy. Low conductivity polycrystalline films
exhibiting cubical structure (bixbyite-type) and good adherence were obtained.
Keywords: ITO, Thin films, Sol-gel process, Spin coating, X-ray diffraction, TEM,
IR reflection spectroscopy
1. Introduction
Tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) thin films are being extensively studied because of the
interesting properties they could have, such as a low resistivity, transparency in the visible region of
the electromagnetic spectrum and high infrared reflectivity. These properties make them good
candidates for many applications such as infrared reflectors, antireflection coatings, thin film resistors
[1].
Several methods have been used to get ITO films: reactive evaporation [2], the spray
pyrolysis [3], chemical vapor deposition (CVD) [4], dc and rf magnetron sputtering [5,6] and last but
not least sol-gel method.
The application of sol-gel processing is widespread and certain applications, such as coating
on window glass are being used on commercial basis. The use of In2O3-SnO2 and SnO2-CdO systems
are cu