Morphology, structure and optical properties of sol–gel ITO thin films

The alkoxidic route and the spinning deposition were used to prepare monolayer sol–gel indium tin oxide (ITO) films. The morphology and crystalline structure were investigated by cross-section transmission electron microscopy (XTEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The ITO sol–gel mono-layer contains three regions of different porosities. The basic crystalline structure is that of the In2O3 lattice. The optical properties have been studied by optical transmission and spectroscopic ellipsometry.