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Effect of temperature on the electrical properties of ITO in a TiO 2 /ITO film
Author(s) -
Nishimoto Naoki,
Yamada Yasuji,
Ohnishi Yosuke,
Imawaka Naoto,
Yoshino Katsumi
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
physica status solidi (a)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.532
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1862-6319
pISSN - 1862-6300
DOI - 10.1002/pssa.201228325
Subject(s) - materials science , indium tin oxide , grain size , thermal stability , annealing (glass) , grain boundary , chemical engineering , composite material , thin film , nanotechnology , microstructure , engineering
Thermal stabilities of indium tin oxide (ITO) substrates and TiO 2 /ITO structures were evaluated in relation to their electrical properties. The ITO substrates and TiO 2 /ITO structures were annealed at 350, 400, and 500 °C. The ITO substrate with large grain size showed higher thermal stability than that with small grain size. The thermal stability of TiO 2 /ITO structure improved with increasing TiO 2 thickness, and a decrease in electron concentration was observed in resistance‐increased samples. These changes were attributed to variations in grain‐boundary potential caused by oxygen adsorption. It may be concluded that variation of the grain‐boundary potential by thermal annealing has a dominant influence on resistance. Therefore, optimization of the grain size is important to improve the thermal stability of ITO. This mechanism and procedure can be applied to improve the characteristics of other TCO materials.