Transparent conductive titanium-doped indium oxide films prepared by a magnetic null discharge sputter source

Titanium-doped indium oxide (ITiO) films were prepared on soda-lime glass substrate using a magnetic null discharge (MND) sputter source. The ITiO thin films containing 10 wt.% Ti showed the minimum resistivity of ρ = 5.5 × 10−3 Ω cm. The optical transmittance increases from 70% at 450 nm to 80% at 700 nm in visible spectrum. Photoelectron peaks for In 3d, Ti 2p, O 1s and C 1s were detected for the ITiO film in the binding energy range of 0–1100 eV. The surface roughness of the sample showed a change from 10 nm to 50 nm. The ITiO film used for TCO layer of DSCs exhibited an energy conversion efficiency of about 3.8% at light intensity of 100 mW/cm2.