Effects of rapid thermal annealing on the properties of In2O3 thin films grown on glass substrate by rf reactive magnetron sputtering

The effects of rapid thermal annealing (RTA) temperature on the properties of the In2O3 thin films deposited on glass substrate by reactive magnetron sputtering were investigated. The thin films were annealed at various RTA temperatures for 1 min and characterized for their structural, morphological, electrical, and optical properties. The experimental results showed that the postgrowth RTA temperature has a significant effect on the properties of the In2O3 thin films. The preferred orientation along (2 2 2) plane and an increase in average grain size by 10 nm were observed with increasing the RTA temperature. The average optical transmittance in the wavelength range of 370–1100 nm was increased from 86.7% to 88.6% after annealing at 600 °C, where the highest value of the figure of merit was obtained. In addition to the increase in carrier concentration, a higher RTA temperature caused the band gap energy of the thin films to rise linearly.

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