Analysis of the Surface Microtexture of Sputtered Indium Tin Oxide Thin Films

Abstract

The present research work involves the study of the 3-D surface microtexture of sputtered indium tin oxide (ITO) prepared on glass substrates by DC magnetron at room temperature. The samples were annealed at 450°C in air and were distributed into five groups, dependent on ambient combinations applied, as follows: I group, using argon (Ar); II group, using argon with oxygen (Ar+O2); III group, using argon with oxygen and nitrogen (Ar+O2+N2); IV group, using argon with oxygen and hydrogen (Ar+O2+H2); and V group, using argon with oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen (Ar+O2+N2+H2). The characterization of the ITO thin film surface microtexture was carried out by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The AFM images were stereometrically quantitatively analyzed to obtain statistical parameters, by ISO 25178-2: 2012 and ASME B46.1-2009. The results have shown that the 3-D surface microtexture parameters change in accordance with different fabrication ambient combinations.

Keywords

• afm
• dc magnetron sputtering
• ito thin films
• stereometric analysis
• 3-d surface microtexture