• Nie, M.; Mete, T.; Ellmer, K.: Morphology and structure evolution of tin-doped indium oxide thin films deposited by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering: the role of the sputtering atmosphere. Journal of Applied Physics 115 (2014), p. 154905/1-8

10.1063/1.4871810

Abstract:
The microstructure and morphology evolution of tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) thin films deposited by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering in different sputtering atmospheres were investigated by X-ray diffraction, X-ray reflectivity, and atomic force microscopy. The surface roughness w increases with increasing film thickness df, and exhibits a power law behavior wdf b. The roughness decreases with increasing O2 flow, while it increases with increasing H2 flow. The growth exponent b is found to be 0.35, 0.75, and 0.98 for depositions in Ar/10%O2, pure Ar, and Ar/10%H2 atmospheres, respectively. The correlation length n increases with film thickness also with a power law according to ndf z with exponents z¼0.36, 0.44, and 0.57 for these three different gas atmospheres, respectively. A combination of local and non-local growth modes in 2þ1 dimensions is discussed for the ITO growth in this work.