Production and characterization of indium oxide and indium nitride

Abstract

Thin films of indium oxide 200 nm thick and indium nitride 150 nm thick were produced by reactive sputtering deposition onto soda lime substrates. The Indium cathode was kept under vacuum attached to a high voltage dc. The In xOy films were obtained in argon-oxygen mixture with total pressure between 2 and 7 Pa, current density between 0.04 and 0.56 mA/cm 2 and substrate temperature of 300 K. The InxNy films were obtained in argon-nitrogen mixture with total pressure between 1 and 5 Pa, current density between 0.18 and 14 mA/cm2 and substrate temperature of 320 K. Results revealed that thin films give rise to high conductivity, are transparent and have a carrier density of 1019 cm-3 for InxOy and 1017 cm -3 for InxNy. These results were obtained mainly from temperature dependent α and σ measurements. The reduced chemical potential was calculated considering three different scattering mechanisms i.e. interaction with optically polarized phonons, interaction with ionized impurities and interaction with grains, in order to identify the main scattering mechanism, which resulted to be due to impurities.