Characteristics of indium tin oxide films deposited by bias magnetron sputtering

Indium tin oxide coatings have been deposited on glass substrates with substrate bias as a process parameter along with substrate temperature. It was found that films deposited with substrate heating and/or substrate bias were polycrystalline in nature and predominantly (400) oriented. The results are correlated to microstructural variation due to the process parameters. Films with lowest sheet resistance, 7.6 ohm/sq and electron concentration of 8.1×1021 cm−3 have been achieved in case of films deposited at 370 °C with a substrate bias of +18 V.