Influence of Substrate Temperature on Morphological and Electrical Properties of Indium Tin Oxide Nanocolumns Prepared by RF Magnetron Sputtering

Abstract

Indium tin oxide was prepared using RF magnetron sputtering at different substrate temperature. The morphological and electrical properties were investigated. Morphological properties were observed by atomic force microscopy. Electrical properties were measured using standard two-point probe measurements. The result shows that the average roughness and peak to valley value are highest at high substrate temperature. The watershed analysis shows that the total grain boundaries are highest at the substrate temperature of 200°C. The lowest resistivity value of 9.57×10-5 Ωcm is obtained from ITO nanocolumn deposited at substrate temperature of 200°C. The improvement of morphological and electrical properties as transparent conducting oxide was observed from ITO nanocolumn deposited at substrate temperature of 200°C.