A deep understanding of relationship between reverse time and growth of ITO film deposited by direct current pulsed sputtering

Indium tin oxide (ITO) film was deposited by the traditional direct current (DC) pulsed magnetron sputtering technology. With the increase of reverse time from 0 to 4.0 μs, the crystal structure of ITO film changed from the polycrystalline structure without preferred orientation to (1 0 0) preferred orientation. ITO film with (1 0 0) preferred orientation showed the satisfactory optical and electrical properties, such as the band gap in 4.15 eV and carrier concentration in 4.25 × 1020/cm3. Based on DC pulsed voltage waveform, the formation of (1 0 0) preferred orientation, as well as the change of optical and electrical properties of ITO film, were analyzed logically.