Optical emission spectroscopy during fabrication of indium-tin-oxynitride films by RF-sputtering

Indium-tin-oxide (ITO) and indium-tin-oxynitride (ITON) films have been deposited on glass by rf-sputtering froman ITOtarget, using Ar plasma and N2 plasma, respectively, and different rf-power. Optical emission spectroscopy (OES) was employed to identify the species present in the plasma and to correlate themwith the properties of the ITOand ITONthin films. Emission lines of ionic In could only be detected inN2 plasma, whereas in the Ar plasmaadditional lines corresponding to atomic In and InO, were detected.The deposition rate of thin filmswas correlatedwith the In species, rather than the nitrogen species, emission intensity in the plasma. The higher resistivity and lower carrier concentration of the ITONfilms, as compared to the respective properties of the ITO films, were attributed to the incorporation of nitrogen, instead of oxygen, in the ITON structure