Preparation and Characterization of ITO Nanostructure by Oblique Angle Deposition

Abstract Indium doped tin oxide (ITO) nanostructured films were prepared by the electron-beam evaporation with the oblique-angle deposition (OAD) technique. The influence of the film thickness of the ITO nanostructures on the crystal structures, the physical morphologies, the optical properties, and the electrical attributes was investigated by grazing-incident X-ray diffraction (GIXRD), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), UV-Vis spectrophotometry, four-point probe measurements, the respectively. The GIXRD analyses indicated that the ITO nanostructured films were mostly polycrystalline with the cubic bixbite structure. The FE-SEM micrographs clearly showed that the increased film thickness greatly affected the morphologies of the ITO nanostructures. The optical transmission spectra at the different angles of incidence clearly demonstrated the optimized results for the highest transmission in the visible region. The electrical resistivity of the ITO nanostructures was gradually decreased with the increased ITO thickness. Finally, the most optimized solar transmission with small light scattering and sheet resistance were discussed based on the anti-reflection performance of the ITO nanostructured films towards the solar cell applications.