A simplified reactive thermal evaporation method for indium tin oxide electrodes

Indium tin oxide (ITO) films approximately 120 nm thick were deposited onto unheated glass substrates by using reactive thermal evaporation (RTE) and in situ post-evaporation annealing in oxygen. We show that this simplified method can be used to produce high quality ITO thin films with low electrical resistivity (10−3 Ω cm) and high transmittance (approximately 80% at 550 nm). The refractive index is approximately 2.0 and the direct optical band gap of the films (above 3.0 eV) is in good agreement with previously reported values. Since this deposition method does not require heating the substrates or furnace annealing at high temperatures, it can be advantageous when it is necessary to decrease the thermal budget on underlying devices or layers.