TRANSPARENT CONDUCTIVE ITO COATINGS OBTAINED BY PYROLYSIS OF METAL EXTRACTS

Thin films of indium-tin oxide (ITO) have been prepared by pyrolysis of liquid organic-extracts of indium and tin. The films were deposited on glass substrate in the atmospheric condition. Extraction-pyrolytic method adopted here uses cheap starting materials and provides the required stoichiometric ratio by mixing the stable liquid precursors in appropriate concentration. Thermal decomposition processes are induced in the narrow temperature range of 350–400°C. The zirconium-yttrium oxide (ZYO) sublayer was deposited on glass substrate in advance to provide homo epitaxial growth. This would induce reduction in intrinsic stress of the films due to matching in thermal expansion coefficient with ITO film. XPS studies showed the absence of impurity elements in these extraction-pyrolytic technique derived ITO films and the spectra is quite similar to that for ITO films deposited in vacuum environment. ITO film has a nanocrystalline structure with grain size of about 6 nm.