Indium-tin-oxide coatings for applications in photovoltaics and displays deposited using rotary ceramic targets: Recent insights regarding process stability and doping level

The influence of Sn doping level on electro-optical properties of thin films targeting an application such as hetero-junction c-Si solar cells is also investigated. Again, rotary targets operated at high power (10 kW/m) are used, including standard grade ITO containing 10 wt.% SnO2 and another composition with only 3 wt.% SnO2. The influence of H2 and different concentrations of O2 in the sputter gas is analysed for both target materials. Results indicate that although coatings derived from the lower-doped ITO exhibit considerably less absorption in the NIR due to lower carrier concentrations, their resistivity is nearly 30% higher than that from the standard ITO coating.