Degradation of ITO Film in Glow-Discharge Plasma

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Abstract
The degradation of ITO films bombarded by glow-discharge plasmas of H2, Ar, N2, B2H6 (2500 ppm in H2) and PH3 (2500 ppm in H2) are investigated. The ITO film temperature, the plasma bombarding time, and the RF power required to generate the plasma are taken as the parameters of these experiments. Degradation takes place at the lowest temperature (200–250°C) with the H2 plasma, followed by B2H6 and then by Ar in the order shown in Fig. 3. However, the films are only slightly degraded by the N2 and PH3 plasmas. SEM observation of degraded ITO films after bombardment with plasma shows that the ITO film in the degraded area separates almost completely from the substrate silicon crystal and is spherodized into many small particles of In-Sn alloy.