Formation process of indium oxide transparent conducting films via thermal decomposition - Nanostructure observation of dip-coated films during electron-beam irradiation

摘要

Indium 2-ethylhexanoate monohydroxide, In(OH)(O2CCH(CH2CH3)(CH2)(3)CH3)(2), is a precursory material to fabricate In2O3-based transparent conducting films by dip-coating process. Formation process of indium oxide transparent conducting films was investigated using an ultra-low acceleration voltage FE-SEM. The nanostructure change of the precursory layer was observed during the electron beam irradiation in vacuum. A flat and homogeneous surface of the as-coated layer changed to porous and net-work like nanostructure after 80 s; the pore diameter increased and the pore distance decreased although the number of pores remained unchanged. These processes were interpreted as the preliminary step to form porous films composed of nm-sized inter-linked oxide particles as reported in the previous papers by the authors.