Effects of oxygen flow rate on microstructure and properties of indium molybdenum oxide films by ion beam-assisted deposition

The purpose of the present work is to experimentally study the effect of oxygen flow rate on the microstructure and properties of indium molybdenum oxide (IMO) films deposited onto the polyethersulfone (PES) substrate by ion beam-assisted deposition (IBAD). Crystalline quality, surface morphology, and optoelectronic properties of the IMO films are examined. Experimental results show that the IMO films present a columnar feature as observed by using FE-SEM with the corresponding root mean square (RMS) roughness of 2 nm as measured by using AFM. An increased oxygen flow rate reduces resistivity of the IMO film. The lowest resistivity of 1.59×10−3 Ω cm, with carrier mobility of 16.31 cm2/V s, carrier concentration of 1.02×1020 cm−3, and visible transmittance of 82% of the IMO film was achieved under an oxygen flow rate of 5 sccm at an ion beam discharge voltage of 150 V.