Indium tin oxide thin films for silicon-based electro-luminescence devices prepared by electron beam evaporation method

Tin doped indium oxide thin films were deposited by electron beam evaporation (EBE) method. The influences of deposition atmosphere, film thickness and post-annealing temperature on the optical and electrical properties are studied. It is found that depositing films in oxygen atmosphere is helpful for improving the electrical and optical performance due to the improvement of the film microstructure. The sheet resistance is increased obviously in ITO films with reducing the film thickness, which is caused by the enhanced surface scattering towards the carriers. The obtained ITO thin films deposited under optimized conditions have good electrical and optical properties with typical resistivity of 4.5 × 10−4 Ω cm and the optical transmittance of about 85% (at 550 nm). Furthermore, the EBE deposited ITO thin film can be applied as the top electrode in the Si-based electro-luminescence devices and a strong electro-luminescence (EL) is observed.