Optical constants of DC sputtering derived ITO, TiO2 and TiO2:Nb thin films characterized by spectrophotometry and spectroscopic ellipsometry for optoelectronic devices

TL;DR

This study characterizes the optical constants of ITO, TiO2, and Nb-doped TiO2 thin films deposited by DC sputtering, using spectrophotometry and spectroscopic ellipsometry, to evaluate their suitability for optoelectronic devices.

Contribution

It introduces a new amorphous model for spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements and compares optical parameters obtained by different techniques for these thin films.

Findings

High transmittance in visible range (86-91%) on glass substrates.

Optical band gaps around 3.3-3.6 eV for all films.

Excellent agreement between UV and SE measurements of optical constants.

Abstract

Thin films of inorganic materials as Tin-doped indium oxide, titanium oxide, Niobium doped titanium oxide, were deposited for comparison on glass and Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates with a DC sputtering method. These thin films have been characterized by different techniques: Dektak Surface Profilometer, X-ray diffraction (XRD), SEM, (UV/Vis/NIR) spectrophotometer and spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE). The optical parameters of these films such as transmittance, reflectance, refractive index, extinction coefficient, energy gap obtained with different electronic transitions, real and imaginary ({\epsilon}_r,{\epsilon}_i) dielectric constants, were determined in the wavelengths range of (200 - 2200) nm. The results were compared with SE measurements in the ranges of (0.56- 6.19) eV by a new amorphous model with steps of 1 nm. SE measurements of optical constant have been examined and confirm the accuracy of the (UV/Vis/NIR) results. The optical properties indicate an excellent transmittance in the visible range of (400 - 800) nm. The average transmittance of films on glass is about (86%, 91%, 85%) for (ITO, TiO2, TiO2:Nb (NTO)) respectively and decreases to about (85%, 81%, 82%) for PET substrates. For all these materials the optical band gap for direct transition was (3.53, 3.3, 3.6) eV on glass substrates and on PET substrates using two methods (UV and SE). A comparison between optical constants and thickness of these ultrathin films observed gives an excellent agreement with the UV results. The deposited films were also analyzed by XRD and showed an amorphous structure. The structural morphology of these thin films has been investigated and compared.