Effect of substrate angle on properties of ITO films deposited by cathodic arc ion plating with In–Sn alloy target

Indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films have been deposited by cathodic arc ion plating (CAIP) using In–Sn alloy target as the source material. By varying substrate angle for deposition without using any filtering technique, macroparticle free, high quality ITO films are obtained successfully. In an oxygen atmosphere of 0.5 Pa without substrate heating, the lowest resistivity and lowest absorption coefficient obtained are 2×10−4 Ω cm and 1.6×10−3 nm−1, respectively. Our results show that this is a simple way to reduce the macroparticles and obtain high-quality ITO films. Other properties such as film structure, surface morphology, carrier concentration and mobility have also been investigated.