Indium tin oxide films made from nanoparticles: models for the optical and electrical properties

Abstract Porous thin films comprising nanoparticles of In 2 O 3 :Sn (known as indium tin oxide, ITO) were made by spin coating followed by annealing. The nanoparticles were prepared by a wet chemical technique. The films had a luminous transmittance of ∼90% and an electrical resistivity of ∼10 −2 Ω cm. Spectral transmittance and reflectance were analyzed by first representing the ITO nanoparticles within the Drude theory, with a frequency-dependent scattering time characteristic for ionized impurity scattering, and then applying effective medium theory to account for the porosity. It was found that the individual nanoparticles had a resistivity of ∼2×10 −4 Ω cm, i.e. their electrical properties were comparable to those in the best films made by physical or chemical vapour deposition. Temperature-dependent electrical resistivity data for the films could be reconciled with a model for fluctuation induced tunneling between micrometer-size clusters of internally connected ITO nanoparticles.