Effects of mixing Al₂O₃ particles with tin-doped indium oxide particles on the properties of aerosol-deposited thin films

Abstract

Tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) thin films are a key material for optical devices due to their high electrical conductivity and high optical transparency. Thin films were formed on glass and polyvinylchloride substrates by aerosol deposition (AD) using aerosol mixtures of ITO and A₂O₃ (AO) particles; X-ray diffraction measurements indicated that the composite thin films comprised AO and ITO. The thickness of the film increased with increasing AO volume and reached the maximum value at approximately 50 vol %, giving a film thickness that was approximately 10 times that of a thin film deposited using only ITO particles. This study revealed that the amount of ITO particles required to generate ITO films using AD is about 20 times less than that required to fabricate ITO films of the same thickness and resistivity using conventional approaches. The resistivities of films deposited using an aerosol with 33.3 vol % ITO or more were similar to that of ITO thin film. The absorption coefficients in the visible region for ITO thin films deposited by AD were approximately 40% smaller than that of commercially available ITO thin films.