Fabrication of high conductive ITO thin film for photovoltaic applications

High conductive and transparent ITO thin films were deposited on the alkali free glass with different thickness by DC sputtering. The thickness effects on the structural, electrical and optical properties of ITO films were investigated. It was found that the surface morphology and roughness were remarkably influenced by the film thickness. The roughness of the thin films increased with the film thickness increased, and the lowest roughness of 0.501nm was observed from 100 nm-thickness ITO thin film. In contrast, the resistivity and hall mobility were increased with the thickness increase of the ITO films. The lowest resistivity of 1.303 Ω cm and the highest Hall mobility of 29.2 cm²/V s were obtained from 400nm-thickness ITO film. The average transmittance of all the ITO films was above 85% in the visible light spectrum.