Study on Microstructural Control of Indium Tin Oxide Targets and Its Effect on Sputtered Films
摘要
The microstructure of target materials plays crucial role in determining their performance. To control the microstructure of indium tin oxide (ITO) targets (3% tin oxide-doped indium oxide), both conventional and two-step sintering methods were employed to prepare ITO targets. The performance of two types of targets was systematically characterized. Furthermore, films deposited via magnetron sputtering using these two target materials were analyzed to investigate possible performance differences between them. Results demonstrate that two-step sintering process effectively refines grain structure of target material. Through process optimization, average grain size of target material is reduced to 9.44 μm, significantly smaller than that obtained via conventional sintering (22.55 μm), corresponding to a 58.14% reduction. Simultaneously, the density of prepared target material still exceeds 99%. Characterization of sputtered films reveals that those deposited using two-step sintered target exhibit enhanced crystallization after annealing at 200 °C. Films produced from two-step sintered target also demonstrate superior carrier transport properties and optical transmittance after annealing, achieving carrier mobility of 34.8 cm2/(V s)—11.9% improvement over films derived from conventionally sintered target. These findings provide important guidance for preparing high-quality ITO targets and enhancing optoelectronic performance of sputtered thin films.