Structural and Electrical Properties of Titanium-Doped Indium Oxide Films Deposited by RF Sputtering

Titanium-doped indium oxide (ITiO) is a high-quality transparent conducting oxide commonly used as the contact for photovoltaic. The transparent conductive titanium-doped indium oxide (ITiO) films were deposited on Corning glass substrates by RF magnetron sputtering method. The effects of RF sputtering power and Ar gas pressure on the structural and electrical properties of the films were investigated experimentally, using a 2.5 wt% TiO2 -doped In2O3 target. The deposition rate was in the range of around 20 to 60 nm/min under the experimental conditions of the gas pressure and the RF Magnetron sputtering power. In this case, the lowest resistivity of 1.2x10(-4) Omega-cm and the average optical transmittance of 75% were obtained for the ITiO film, prepared at RF power of 300 W and Ar gas pressure of 15 mTorr. This resistivity of 1.2x10(-4) Omega-cm is low enough as a transparent conducting layer in various electro-optical devices and it is comparable with that of ITO or ZnO:Al conducting layer. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.