Chemical Characterization of DC-Sputtered In₂O₃ Films with a Top SnO₂ Layer

Abstract:

In₂O₃ thin films with a top layer of SnO₂ were deposited onto glass substrates by DC reactive-magnetron sputtering. After deposition, In₂O₃/SnO₂ samples were annealed in vacuum at 400oC. Structural, optical, and chemical composition was investigated by X-ray diffraction, UV-Vis spectroscopy and XPS, respectively. X-ray data showed that films grow polycrystalline, where indium oxide crystallized in cubic as the main phase, with a preferential growth at the [0002] direction and lattice parameter of 10.11 Å. Signals of rhombohedral phase were also detected. XPS depth profiles show that tin coexists in Sn²⁺ and Sn⁴⁺, while indium maintains the In₂O₃ stoichiometry. Binding energy of Sn⁴⁺ bound to oxygen was detected at 468 eV while In²⁺ bound to oxygen at 444.7 eV. Nor tertiary compounds were detected at the In₂O₃/SnO₂ interface, neither In or Sn in metallic state.

• Periodical: Journal of Nano Research (Volume 30)
• Pages: 86-95
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/JNanoR.30.86
• Online since: March 2015
• Authors: Álvaro Bedoya-Calle, Manuel García-Méndez*, Alejandro Torres-Castro, Sadasivan Shaji, Ubaldo Ortiz-Méndez

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