Study of the substrate treatment effect on initial growth of indium tin-oxide films on polymer substrate using in situ conductance measurement

• Published in: Thin solid films 2006-02, Vol.496 (1), p.58-63
• Main Authors: Han, Younggun, Kim, Donghwan, Cho, Jun-Sik, Beag, Young-Whan, Koh, Seuk-Keun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Deposition by sputtering; Electrical properties and measurement; Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and low-dimensional structures; Electronic transport phenomena in thin films and low-dimensional structures; Exact sciences and technology; Indium oxide; Indium tin oxide; Ion bombardment; Low-field transport and mobility; piezoresistance; Materials science; Methods of deposition of films and coatings; film growth and epitaxy; Physics
• ISSN: 0040-6090; 1879-2731
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tsf.2005.08.233

Changes in the initial growth mode of ion beam sputtered indium tin oxide (ITO) films on polycarbonate (PC) substrates were investigated by an in situ measurement of electrical conductance. The PC substrates were irradiated with l keV Ar ions in an oxygen environment (ion assisted reaction: IAR), prior to the film deposition for changing the surface energy. The electrical conduction modes in ITO films were discussed in terms of the film thickness and the surface energy of PC substrates. It was found that, in the initial part of the film growth, ITO nucleation density increased with the increase of the surface energy of PC. The change of the growth mode was discussed in both viewpoints of thermodynamics and atomic kinetics theories and verified by AFM (atomic force microscope) observations. Thermal stability of ITO films was investigated to observe the effect of the growth mode change by IAR pre-treatment of polymer substrate.