The effect of post-annealing under CdCl_2 atmosphere on the properties of ITO thin films deposited by DC magnetron sputtering

摘要

Indium tin oxide (ITO) films deposited by DC magnetron sputtering were annealed under CdCl_2 atmosphere at different temperatures. The effects of CdCl_2 heat-treatment on the structural, electrical and optical properties of the films were investigated. The X-ray diffraction measurement proves the annealing results in a change of preferred orientation from (400) to (222). It is found the resistivity increases from 1.49 × 10~(-4) Ω cm of the as-deposited film to 6.82 × 10~(-4) Ω cm of the film annealed at 420 ℃. The optical energy gap for the film varies from 3.97 to 3.89 eV. It is also found that the CdCl_2 heat-treatment results in narrowing the energy gap of ITO film.