Investigation of conductive transparent in₂O₃thin films deposited by triode sputtering

Conductive transparent thin films play a significant role in the now-day electronics and optical technologies. Displays of various types, photovoltaic systems, and optoelectronic devices use these films as transparent signal electrodes or heating surfaces. In our work, conductive transparent indium oxide (In₂O₃) thin films were prepared using novel implementation of triode sputtering method. A pure In₂O₃ target of 2 inch in diameter was used to sputtering in a laboratory triode system provided with a plane plasma discharge at relatively low pressure (0.5-5 mTorr) of pure argon (Ar). The substrate temperature was varied during experiments from room temperature up to 200°C. The films were deposited on optical glass slides of 1 mm thick. The resultants films were characterized for their optical and electrical properties and compared with the In ₂O₃ films deposited by magnetron sputtering.