Influence of substrates on the structural and morphological properties of RF sputtered ITO thin films for photovoltaic application

Polycrystalline ITO films were deposited by RF sputtering on three different substrates of glass, p-type (100) and multicrystalline textured silicon wafers. Properties of ITO films were analyzed by XRD, SEM, four point probe system and UV/VIS/IR spectrometer. The ITO film on mono and multi-Si crystallizes in a three-dimensional manner, and a granular crystalline structure is formed with a (222) XRD peak, while the ITO film on glass shows strong XRD (400) peak and grows in two dimensions and a domain structure is formed. Resistivity measurements reveal that resistivity of ITO on glass is minimum due to higher concentration of carriers.