Fabrication,characterization and optimization of high conductivity and high quality nanocrystalline molybdenum thin films

The present study investigated the influence of substrate temperature(Ts)and working pressure(P(Ar))on tailoring the properties of nanocrystalline(nc)molybdenum(Mo)films fabricated by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering.The structural,morphological,electrical and optical properties of nc-Mo films were evaluated in detail.The Mo films exhibited(110)orientation with average crystallite size varying from 9 to 22(±1)nm on increasing Ts.Corroborating with structural data,the electrical resistivity decreased from 55μΩcm to 10μΩcm,which is the lowest among all the Mo films.For Mo films deposited under variable P(Ar).the(110)peak intensity decrement coupled with peak broadening on increasing P(Ar).Lower deposition pressure yielded densely packed thin films with superior structural properties along with low resistivity of 15μΩcm.Optimum conditions to produce high quality Mo films with excellent structural,morphological,electrical and optical characteristics for utilization in solar cells as back contact layers were identified.