Comparative study of heteroepitaxial and polycrystalline tin-doped indium oxide films

A comparative study of heteroepitaxial and polycrystalline tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) films grown by both de magnetron sputtering (DCSP) and e-beam evaporation (EB) have been performed. Polycrystalline indium tin-oxide (ITO) films grown by DCSP had a crystalline orientation dependent surface morphology and film-thickness (up to 9% of the total thickness), This crystalline orientation dependent morphology and thickness of sputtered polycrystalline ITO films was attributed to the anisotropic resputtering by energetic particles during growth, Heteroepitaxial growth of ITO films resulted in a smaller resistivity in the case of EB. However, the resistivities of heteroepitaxial and polycrystalline ITO films grown by DCSP were identical within errors of measurement and the improvement of electrical properties by the epitaxial growth observed in EB was suppressed in the case of DCSP, This suppression was also attributed to the energetic particle bombardment during DCSP, which is absent in EB. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.