Low Temperature DC Sputtering Deposition on Indium-Tin Oxide Film and Its Application to Inverted Top-emitting Organic Light-emitting Diodes

Indium tin oxide （ITO） ultrathin films were prepared on glass substrate by DC （direct current） magnetron sputtering technique with the assistance of H2O vapor to avoid potential surface damage. The film properties were characterized by X-ray diffraction （XRD） technique, four-point probe method and spectrophotometer. The results show that the deposited ITO film with introduced H2O during sputtering process was almost amorphous. The average visible light transmission of 100 nm ITO film was around 85% and square resistivity was below 80 Ω/square. The film was used as the transparent anode to fabricate an inverted top-emitting organic light-emitting diodes （IT-OLEDs） with the structure of glass substrate/Alq3 （40 nm）/NPB （15 nm）/CuPc （x nm）/ITO anode （100 nm）, where the film thickness of CuPc was optimized. It was found that the luminance of this IT-OLEDs was improved from 25 cd/m^2 to more than 527 cd/m^2 by increasing the thickness of CuPc, and luminance efficiency of 0.24 lm/W at 100 cd/m^2 was obtained, which indicated that the optimized thickness of CuPc layer was around 15 nm.

ZnO Films Deposited on Glass by Means of DC Sputtering

ZnO films were deposited on glass substrates by means of a direct current (DC) sputtering technique. The physical properties of the films were investigated on the basis of X-ray diffraction measurements. It was found that as-deposited films show c-axis oriented crystal normal to the surface with the extension of c axis by 1.27% that is estimated from the shift of the peak in the X-ray diffraction pattern. Post-deposition annealing in air at higher than 400℃ eliminates the shift and sharpens the diffraction peak structure at the same time. The electrical resistivity continues to decrease from 500 Ω•cm down to 0.6 Ω•cm by annealing as high as 600℃.

Synthesis and Characterization of Copper Doped Zinc Oxide Thin Films Deposited by RF/DC Sputtering Technique

Undoped and copper(Cu)doped zinc oxide(Zn_(1-x)Cu_(x)O,where x=0-0.065)nano crystal thin films have been deposited on glass substrate via RF/DC reactive co-sputtering technique.The aim of this work is to investigate the crystal structure of ZnO and Cu doped ZnO thin films and also study the effect of Cu doping on optical band gap of ZnO thin films.The identification and confirmation of the crystallinity,film thickness and surface morphology of the nano range thin films are confirmed by using X-ray diffractometer(XRD),scanning electron microscope and atomic force microscope.The XRD peak at a diffractive angle of 34.44°and Miller indices at(002)confirms the ZnO thin films.Crystallite size of undoped ZnO thin films is 27 nm and decreases from 27 nm to 22 nm with increasing the atomic fraction of Cu(x_(Cu))in the ZnO thin films from 0 to 6.5%respectively,which is calculated from XRD(002)peaks.The different bonding information of all deposited films was investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectrometer in the range of wave number between 400 cm^(-1) to 4000 cm^(-1).Optical band gap energy of all deposited thin films was analyzed by ultraviolet visible spectrophotometer,which varies from 3.35 eV to 3.19 eV with the increase of x_(Cu) from 0 to 6.5%respectively.Urbach energy of the deposited thin films increases from 115 meV to 228 meV with the increase of x_(Cu) from 0 to 6.5% respectively.

Substrate angle-induced fully c-axis orientation of AlN films deposited by off-normal DC sputtering method

A highly c-axis-oriented aluminum nitride(Al N)thin film with smooth and crack-free surface was fabricated by an off-normal direct current(DC)sputtering method in a pure nitrogen atmosphere,in which the rotatable substrate holder positioned in the middle of four side targets was a key approach to guarantee the grain growth with no tilt.The detailed effects of substrate angle on the c-axis orientation of Al N films were investigated by varying the substrate angle from 0°to 90°.Moreover,theoretical analysis and Monte Carlo(MC)simulation reveal that the oblique or even vertical angle could improve the lateral kinetic energy of sputtered atoms deposited on the growing film.A variety of examining techniques including X-ray diffraction(XRD),(002)peak rocking curve,scanning electron microscopy(SEM)were conducted to evaluate the angle dependence on the crystallographic orientation.These test results indicate that larger substrate angle is beneficial to the(002)growth of Al N thin film,and a fully c-axis textured Al N thin film is obtained at 90°with small surface roughness(R_(a))of 3.32 nm.

Influences of working pressure on properties for TiO_2 films deposited by DC pulse magnetron sputtering

TiO2 films were deposited at room temperature by DC pulse magnetron sputtering system.The crystalline structures,morphological features and photocatalytic activity of TiO2 films were systematically investigated by X-ray diffraction（XRD）,atomic force microscopy（AFM） and ultraviolet spectrophotometer,respectively.The results indicated that working pressure was the key deposition parameter in？uencing the TiO2 film phase composition at room temperature,which directly affected its photocatalytic activity.With increasing working pressure,the target self-bias decreases monotonously.Therefore,low temperature TiO2 phase（anatase） could be deposited with high working pressure.The anatase TiO2 films deposited with 1.4 Pa working pressure displayed the highest photocatalytic activity by the decomposition of Methyl Orange solution,which the degradation rate reached the maximum（35%） after irradiation by ultraviolet light for 1 h.

EFFECT OF Ar PRESSURE ON STRUCTURAL AND ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF Cu FILMS DEPOSITED ON GLASS BY DC MAGNETRON SPUTTERING

Cu films with thickness of 630-1300nm were deposited on glass substrates without heating by DC magnetron sputtering in pure Ar gas. Ar pressure was controlled to 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5Pa respectively. The target voltage was fixed at 500V but the target current increased from 200 to 1150mA with Ar pressure increasing. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy were used to observe the structural characterization of the films. The resistivity of the films was measured using four-point probe technique. At all the Ar pressures, the Cu films have mixture crystalline orientations of [111], [200] and [220] in the direction of the film growth. The film deposited at lower pressure shows more [111] orientation while that deposited at higher pressure has more [220] orientation. The amount of larger grains in the film prepared at 0.5Pa Ar pressure is slightly less than that prepared at 1.0Pa and 1.5Pa Ar pressures. The resistivities of the films prepared at three different Ar pressures represent few differences, about 3-4 times of that of bulk material. Besides the deposition rate increases with Ar pressure because of the increase in target current. The contribution of the bombardment of energetic reflected Argon atoms to these phenomena is discussed.

Fabrication and its characteristics of hard coating Ti-Al-N system prepared by DC magnetron sputtering

Pseudobinary Ti 1 x Al x N films were synthesized on Si (100) wafer by DC magnetron sputtering method using Ti 1 x Al x alloy targets with different Al contents. The composition of the Ti 1 x Al x N films was determined by electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). Structural characteristic was performed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and high-resolution TEM (HRTEM). First principles virtual crystal calculations for the Ti 1 x Al x N disordered alloys were used for the XRD simulations. The crystalline structure of the Ti 0.61 Al 0.39 N film was found to be a metastable single phase with NaCl (B1) structure. Its lattice constant, determined by XRD, was less than that of pure TiN. With the increase of Al content, the lattice constant of B1 phase was continually decreased, while würtzite (B4) structure was observed in the Ti 0.40 Al 0.60 N film. When x reached 0.75, the B1 phase disappeared, and only B4 phase was remained. The critical Al content for the phase transition from NaCl to würtzite structure in this paper was about 0.60, which could be explained by both the thermodynamic model and the electron theory. As-deposited Ti 1 x Al x N films exhibited excellent mechanical properties. Hardness measurements of Ti 1 x Al x N films showed a high value of 45GPa for x=0.39 and was decreased to value of 27 GPa with increasing Al at x=0.60.

OPTICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF TiO_2 THIN FILM ON SILICON SUBSTRATE DEPOSITED BY DC REACTIVE MAGNETRON SPUTTERING

TiO2 thin film has attracted considerable attention in recent years, due to its different refractive index and transparency with amorphous and different crysta ls in the visible and near-infrared wavelength region, high dielectric constant, wide band gap, high wear resistance and stability, etc, for which make it being used in many fields. This paper aims to investigate the optical characterizatio n of thin film TiO2 on silicon wafer. The TiO2 thin films were prepared by DC re active magnetron sputtering process from Ti target. The reflectivity of the film s was measured by UV-3101PC, and the index of refraction (n) and extinction coef ficient (k) were measured by n & k Analyzer 1200.

Photocatalytic Property of TiO2 Films Deposited by Pulsed DC Magnetron Sputtering

TiO2 thin films were prepared by DC magnetron sputtering with the oxygen flow rate higher than the threshold. The film deposited for 5 h was of anatase phase with a preferred orientation along the <220> direction, but the films deposited for 2 and 3 h were amorphous. The transmittance and photocatalytic activity of the TiO2 films increased constantly with increasing film thickness. When the annealing temperature was lower than 700℃, only anatase grew in the TiO2 film. TiO2 phase changed from anatase to rutile when the annealing temperature was above 800℃. The photocatalytic activity decreased with increasing annealing temperature.

Indium–tin oxide films obtained by DC magnetron sputtering for improved Si heterojunction solar cell applications

The indium-tin oxide （ITO） film as the antireflection layer and front electrodes is of key importance to obtaining high efficiency Si heterojunction （HJ） solar cells. To obtain high transmittance and low resistivity ITO films by direct-current （DC） magnetron sputtering, we studied the impacts of the ITO film deposition conditions, such as the oxygen flow rate, pressure, and sputter power, on the electrical and optical properties of the ITO films. ITO films of resistivity of 4 x 10-4 ~.m and average transmittance of 89% in the wavelength range of 380-780 nm were obtained under the optimized conditions： oxygen flow rate of 0.1 sccm, pressure of 0.8 Pa, and sputtering power of 110 W. These ITO films were used to fabricate the single-side HJ solar cell without an intrinsic a-Si：H layer. However, the best HJ solar cell was fabricated with a lower sputtering power of 95 W, which had an efficiency of 11.47%, an open circuit voltage （Voc） of 0.626 V, a filling factor （FF） of 0.50, and a short circuit current density （Jsc） of 36.4 mA/cm2. The decrease in the performance of the solar cell fabricated with high sputtering power of 110 W is attributed to the ion bombardment to the emitter. The Voc was improved to 0.673 V when a 5 nm thick intrinsic a-Si：H layer was inserted between the （p） a-Si：H and （n） c-Si layer. The higher Voc of 0.673 V for the single-side HJ solar cell implies the excellent c-Si surface passivation by a-Si：H.

Reactive DC Magnetron Sputtering Deposition of Copper Nitride Thin Film

Copper nitride thin film was deposited on glass substrates by reactive DC （direct current） magnetron sputtering at a 0.5 Pa N2 partial pressure and different substrate temperatures. The as-prepared film, characterized with X-Ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements, showed a composed structure of Cu3N crystallites with anti-ReO3 structure and a slight oxidation of the resulted film.The crystal structure and growth rate of Cu3N films were affected strongly by substrate temperature. The preferred crystalline orientation of Cu3N films were （111） and （200） at RT, 100℃. These peaks decayed at 200℃ and 300℃ only Cu （111） peak was noticed. Growth of Cu3N films at 100℃ is the optimum substrate temperature for producing high-quality （111） Cu3N films. The deposition rate of Cu3N films estimated to be in range of 18-30 nm/min increased while the resistivity and the microhardness of Cu3N films decreased when the temperature of glass substrate increased.

Effect of N_2-Gas Partial Pressure on the Structure and Properties of Copper Nitride Films by DC Reactive Magnetron Sputtering

Copper nitride thin films were deposited on glass substrates by reactive direct current （DC） magnetron sputtering at various N2-gas partial pressures and room temperature. Xray diffraction measurements showed that the films were composed of Cu3N crystallites and exhibited a preferential orientation of the [111] direction at a low nitrogen gas （N2） partial pressure. The film growth preferred the [111] and the [100] direction at a high N2 partial pressure. Such preferential film growth is interpreted as being due to the variation in the Copper （Cu） nitrification rate with the N2 pressure. The N2 partial pressure affects not only the crystal structure of the film but also the deposition rate and the resistivity of the Cu3N film. In our experiment, the deposition rate of Cu3N films was 18 nm/min to 30 nm/min and increased with the N2 partial pressure. The resistivity of the Cu3N films increased sharply with the increasing N2 partial pressure. At a low N2 partial pressure, the Cu3N films showed a metallic conduction mechanism through the Cu path, and at a high N2 partial pressure, the conductivity of the Cu3N films showed a semiconductor conduction mechanism.

Fabrication and Properties of DC Magnetron Sputtered Indium Tin Oxide on Flexible Plastic Substrate

Indium tin oxide （ITO） thin films deposited on flexible polyethylene terephthalate （PET） substrates at low temperature by DC magnetron sputtering from an In-Sn （90-10 wt pct） alloy target were studied. The correla- tion between deposition conditions and ITO property was systematically investigated and characterized. These as-deposited ITO films were used as the anode contact for flexible organic light-emitting diodes （FOLEDs）. The fabricated FOLEDs with a structure of PET/ITO/NPB （50 nm）/Alq （20 nm）/Mg：Ag （100 nm） showed a maximum luminance of 2125 cd/m^2 at 13 V.

Investigation of High Catalyteal Durability for Porous Pt Films Deposited via Magnetron Sputtering

Porous Pt thin films were prepared on carbon papers by a single-step ultra-high dc magnetron sputtering method to obtain ideal electrodes for proton exchange membrane fuel cells.The platinum loading of the electrocatalyst layer is controlled at about 0.1 mg·cm^(-2).Structural characteristics and catalytic activities of the films were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy,atomic force microscopy,X-ray diffraction,cyclic voltammetry,and stress durability testing methods.The effect of treatment conditions of a substrate on the structural and performance characteristics of the catalytic films was shown as well.Films produced on acid-treated carbon papers at the argon pressure of 0.01 mbar possessed a homogeneous,highly developed surface along with a porous structure.Compared to Pt/TCPW(Toray carbon papers soaked in ultrapure water)electrodes,the film obtained on the acid-treated substrate had a larger electrochemical surface area(163.33 m^(2)·g^(-1))and exhibited better catalytic stability and durability due to a porous structure as a result of Pt particle accumulation.

THE EFFECTS OF SPUTTERING POWER ON STRUCTURE AND ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF Cu FILMS

Cu films with thickness of about 500nm were deposited on glass substrateswithout heating by DC magnetron sputtering in pure Ar gas of 1.0Pa. The sputtering powers weremaintained at 390V X 0.27A, 430V X 0.70A and 450V X l.04A, and the corresponding deposition rates ofCu film reached 35nm/min, l04nm/min and 167nm/min. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopyand atomic force microscopy were used to observe the structural characteristics of the films. Theresistance of the films was measured using four-point probe technique. The amount of larger grainsincreases and the resistivity of the films decreases evidently with an increase in sputtering power.It is considered that the increase in deposition rate with sputtering power mainly weakens theinfluence of residual gas atoms on the growing film, and increases substrate and gas temperatures,resulting in the increase in grain size and the decrease in resistivity of the Cu film.

Modeling for V–O_2 reactive sputtering process using a pulsed power supply

In this article, we present a time-dependent model that enables us to describe the dynamic behavior of pulsed DC reactive sputtering and predict the film compositions of VOx prepared by this process. In this modeling, the average current J is replaced by a new parameter of Jeff. Meanwhile, the four species states of V, V2O3, VO2, and V2O5 in the vanadium oxide films are taken into consideration. Based on this work, the influences of the oxygen gas supply and the pulsed power parameters including the duty cycle and frequency on film compositions are discussed. The model suggests that the time to reach process equilibrium may vary substantially depending on these parameters. It is also indicated that the compositions of VOx films are quite sensitive to both the reactive gas supply and the duty cycle when the power supply works in pulse mode. The ＇steady-state＇ balance values obtained by these simulations show excellent agreement with the experimental data, which indicates that the experimentally obtained dynamic behavior of the film composition can be explained by this time-dependent modeling for pulsed DC reactive sputtering process. Moreover, the computer simulation results indicate that the curves will essentially yield oscillations around the average value of the film compositions with lower pulse frequency.

Insights into the oxidation resistance mechanism and tribological behaviors of multilayered TiSiN/CrVxN hard coatings

In the last decades,vanadium alloyed coatings have been introduced as potential candidates for self-lubrication due to their perfect tribological properties.In this work,the influence of V incorporation on the wear performance and oxidation resistance of TiSiN/CrN film coatings deposited by direct current(DC)reactive magnetron sputtering is investigated.The results show that vanadium incorporation significantly decreases the oxidation resistance of the coatings.In general,two layers are formed during the oxidation process:i)Ti(V)O_(2) on top,followed by a protective layer,which is subdivided into two layers,Cr_(2)O_(3) and Si-O.ii)The diffusion of V controls the oxidation of V-containing coatings.The addition of vanadium improves the wear resistance of coatings,and the wear rate decreases with increasing V content in the coatings;however,the friction coefficient is independent of the chemical composition of the coatings.The wear of the V-containing coatings is driven by polishing wear.

Interface of YBa_2 Cu_3O_7 Thin Films Grown on Sapphire with Epitaxial Yttria-stabilized Zirconia Buffer Layer

Excellcnt epitaxial, highly coriented YBa_2Cua_3O_7 thin films were deposited successfully by dc sputteringon (1120) sapphire substrates with an intermediate buffer layer of Y-stabilized ZrO_2(YSZ), which was grownby rf magnetron sputtering. The YBa_2Cu_3O_7 films exhibited the zero resistance temperature T_(co)= 92 K andcritical current density J_c= 1 .6 × 10￣6A / cm￣2 at 77 K in zcro ficld. The morphology and structure of the bufferlayers and YBa_2Cu_3O_7 / YSZ / sapphire interfaces were determined by using transmission electron microscopytechnique and Auger electron spectroscopy. The results of these studies show that a buffer layer is necessary forobtaining better YBa_2Cu_3O_7 films in preventing reaction between the YBa_2Cu_3O_7 film and the sapphiresubstrate and improving the lattice matching. The superconducting properties of YBa_2Cu_3O_7 films grown onYSZ / sapphire substrates are close to those on standard single crystal YSZ substrates and the sapphire is apromising substrate for passive microwave device application.

Monte Carlo Simulations of Elastic Scattering with Applications to DC and High Power Pulsed Magnetron Sputtering for Ti3_(S)iC_(2)

We simulate the particle transport in a thin film deposition process made by PVD(physical vapor deposition)and present several models for projectile and target collisions in order to compute the mean free path and the differential cross section(angular distribution of scattered projectiles)of the scattering process.A detailed description of collision models is of the highest importance in Monte Carlo simulations of high power impulse magnetron sputtering and DC sputtering.We derive an equation for the mean free path for arbitrary interactions(cross sections)that includes the relative velocity between the particles.We apply our results to two major interaction models:hard sphere interaction&screened Coulomb interaction.Both types of interaction separate DC sputtering from HIPIMS.

Preparation and properties of tungsten-doped indium oxide thin films

Tungsten-doped indium oxide (IWO) thin films were deposited on glass substrate by DC reactive magnetron sputtering. The effects of sputtering power and growth temperature on the structure, surface morphology, optical and electrical properties of IWO thin films were investigated. The thickness and surface morphology of the films are both closely dependent on the sputtering power and the substrate temperature. The transparency of the films decreases with the increase of the sputtering power but is not seriously influenced by substrate temperature. All the IWO thin film samples have high transmittance in near-infrared spectral range. With either the sputtering power or the growth temperature increases, the resistivity of the film decreases at the beginning and increases after the optimum parameters. The as-deposited IWO films with minimum resistivity of 6.4 10 4 cm were obtained at a growth temperature of225 C and sputteringpower of 40 W, with carrier mobility of 33.0 cm 2 V 1 s 1 and carrier concentration of 2.8 10 20 cm 3 and the average transmittance of about 81% in near-infrared region and about 87% in visible region.