Rapid thermal annealing procedure for densification of sol-gel indium tin oxide thin films

Abstract

In this work, we report on the interest of the rapid thermal annealing (RTA) for densification of sol-gel (SG) indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films. The crystalline structure of these ITO films was visualized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and corresponding electron diffraction pattern were compared with data from pure In₂O₃. The average grain size, measured from TEM micrographs, ranges from 5 to 50 nm. The film densification was followed by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry coupled with cross-section TEM observations. A comparison with classical annealing is discussed.