Chromium thin film deposition on ITO substrate by RF sputtering

To obtain a suitable ohmic contact with thelowest resistivity, chromium (Cr) thin films were depositedon transparent conductive oxide indium tin oxide (ITO) byRF sputtering method in argon atmosphere and its electricalproperties were optimized. The deposition of Cr thinfilm has been performed for the layers with thickness of150, 300 and 600 nm in constant Ar gas flow of 30 SCCM.Results show that the lowest contact resistivity belongs tothe layer with 600 nm thickness. Furthermore, Cr/ITO hasbeen studied for five different RF powers of 100, 150, 200,250 and 300 W. Experimental results show that specificcontact resistance of Cr/ITO contact decreases in conditionof depositing chromium thin films on ITO at higher RFpowers. Analysis of SEM has been performed on thesamples. The SEM micrographs show Cr thin films havesmaller grains at RF power of 150 W, in comparison withother RF powers. The lowest specific contact resistivity forCr/ITO has been obtained 4.7 x 10(-2) Ω cm(2) at RF powerof 150 W with 600 nm thickness of chromium thin films.