Abstract This paper reports on the development of a low-temperature plasma annealing process for indium tin oxide (ITO) thin-films deposited by magnetron sputtering. The study investigates the influence of the type of plasma (argon (Ar) vs. oxygen (O2)) and its duration on the optical transmission coefficient and electrical resistivity of the films depending on the power and O2 concentration during their deposition. A low sputtering power of 100 W combined with an O2 concentration of 6 vol% followed by a 40-min Ar plasma anneal at 300 W produces ITO films with an average transmission of 94% in the visible spectrum and a resistivity of 2.3 × 10 − 3 Ω cm. Sputtering without O2 results in a transmission of 89% and a resistivity of 9 × 10 − 4 Ω cm. The annealing depth is found to be 370 nm. We deposited and annealed conductive, transparent ITO tracks below 50 ∘C on a polyimide substrate and thereby operated integrated light sources on a fully transparent and highly flexible optical probe.

中文翻译：

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用于玻璃和聚合物基板上透明和导电薄膜的溅射氧化铟锡的低温等离子体退火

摘要 本文报道了一种用于通过磁控溅射沉积的氧化铟锡 (ITO) 薄膜的低温等离子体退火工艺的发展。该研究调查了等离子体类型（氩 (Ar) 与氧 (O2)）及其持续时间对薄膜光传输系数和电阻率的影响，这取决于沉积过程中的功率和 O2 浓度。100 W 的低溅射功率与 6 vol% 的 O2 浓度相结合，然后在 300 W 下进行 40 分钟的 Ar 等离子体退火，产生的 ITO 薄膜在可见光谱中的平均透射率为 94%，电阻率为 2.3 × 10 - 3 Ω 厘米。没有 O2 的溅射导致 89% 的透射率和 9 × 10 − 4 Ω cm 的电阻率。发现退火深度为370nm。我们沉积和退火导电，