Carbon-dioxide as annealing atmosphere to retain the electrical properties of indium-tin oxide

Abstract In practical applications of indium-tin-oxide (ITO) annealing at temperatures ∼400 °C without degrading its electrical and optical properties is an important challenge. In the present work, commercial Indium-tin oxide (ITO) coated on glass was subjected to post-annealing treatment in the range of 200-400 °C at different annealing atmospheres; oxygen, nitrogen and carbon-dioxide. The annealed samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, UV-visible spectroscopy and Hall measurements to evaluate the structural, optical and electrical properties. Both oxygen and nitrogen treated samples degrades the structural, optical and conducting properties of ITO, while carbon-dioxide atmosphere inhibits the degradation of ITO at 400 °C. The obtained results suggest that carbon-dioxide can be well utilized as annealing ambient to retain opto-electronic, structural and electrical properties of ITO and thereby improve the efficiency of ITO based solar cells.