Low-pressure H2/N2 annealing on indium tin oxide film

Annealing of indium tin oxide (ITO) film in low-pressure H₂/N₂ was investigated. On carefully selecting the annealing process window, apparent electrical property improvement as well as good optical property can be obtained. It was found that ITO annealed with 2 Pa, H₂/N₂:6/6 sccm, at 500 °C for an hour can increase its electrical conductivity 60% more than ITO without annealing, 58% more than ITO annealed with pure H₂. An annealed ITO without specially selected recipe can easily possess worse electrical and optical properties than that without annealing. It can be explained that annealing ITO in a hydrogen-contained environment can lead to hydrogen reduction–oxygen vacancy playing a donor role in ITO; however, annealing also provides the energy to remove ITO material defects including donors.