Nanocrystalline indium oxide thin films of thickness about 100 nm have
been deposited using thermal
vacuum evaporation technique at room temperature on glass and quartz substrates
and subsequently annealed at different temperatures (150℃, 200℃, 250℃, 300℃,
350℃, 500℃ and 700℃) for 2 hr and 4 hr in the oxygen atmosphere. Structural
and optical properties of these films have been investigated by using XRD, SEM,
HRTEM, AFM, UV-Visible, and photoluminescence spectroscopy. Response of gas
towards the thin films is obtained. X-ray diffraction studies of deposited and
annealed films show the transformation of indium into indium oxide thin films
at 300℃. UV-visible and PL studies reveal the band gap of 3.7 eV. The
transparency of thin films is about 83%. Gas response is obtained 3.55 for
ethanol vapours. Structural features associated with the indium oxide thin
films have been correlated with optical parameters.
Cite this paper
Jain, P. , Singh, S. , Srivastava, A. K. , Pundir, S. K. and Siddiqui, A. M. (2015). Relevance of Microstructure on Optical Properties of Thermally Evaporated Indium Oxide Thin Films. Open Access Library Journal, 2, e1200. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1101200.
Beena,
D., Lethy, K.J., Vinodkumar, R., Detty A.P., Mahadevanpillai, V.P. and Ganesan, V. (2011) Photoluminescence in Laser Ablated
Nanostructured Indium Oxide Thin Films. Journal of Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials,
5, 1-11.
Harvey, S.P., Mason, T.O., Gassenbauer, Y.,
Schafranek, R. and Klein, A. (2006) Surface versus Bulk Electronic/Defect
Structures of Transparent Conducting Oxides: I. Indium Oxide and ITO. Journal
of Physics D: Applied Physics, 39, 3959-3968. http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0022-3727/39/18/006
Hotovy, I., Kups, T., Hotovy, J., Liday, J., Buc, D. and Caplovicova, M. (2010) Structural Evolution
of Sputtered Indium Oxide Thin Films. Journal of Electrical Engineering, 61, 382-385.
Guha,
P., Kar, S. and Chaudhuri, S. (2004) Direct Synthesis of Single Crystalline In2O3 Nanopyramids and Nanocolumns
and Their Photoluminescence Properties. Applied Physics Letters, 85, 3851-3853. http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1808886
Jeong,
J.S., Lee, J.Y., Lee, C.J., An, S.J. and Yi, G.C. (2004) Synthesis and Characterization of High-Quality In2O3 Nanobelts via Catalyst-Free Growth Using a Simple Physical Vapor Deposition at Low
Temperature. Chemical Physics Letters, 384, 246-250. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cplett.2003.12.027
Wu,
X.C., Hong, J.M., Han, Z.J. and Tao, Y.R. (2003) Fabrication and Photoluminescence
Characteristics of Single Crystalline In2O3 Nanowires. Chemical
Physics Letters, 373, 28-32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0009-2614(03)00582-7