Correlation between resistivity and oxygen vacancy of hydrogen-doped indium tin oxide thin films

Thin films of indium tin oxide (ITO) sputter-deposited by dc-plasma containing deuterium on glass substrate without any heat treatments exhibited gradual lowering in electrical resistivity with increasing the deuterium content [D2] in plasma gas by 1% and then demonstrated a jump in resistivity by further increase of [D2] than 1%. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that hydroxyl-bonded oxygen in ITO grew continuingly with [D2]. Deuterium positioned at the interstitial site increased almost quantitatively with increasing [D2]. Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy showed gradual reduction in the oxygen content of ITO with increasing [D2] by 1% and then demonstrated an abrupt increase of the oxygen content with the increase of [D2] than 1%. The films with [D2] < 1% were oxygen deficient, but those with [D2] > 1% were excess of oxygen. The most oxygen deficient film of [D2] = 1% was the most conductive. Behavior in the resistivity with [D2] looks parallel to that in the oxygen content. A lower resistivity of the films corresponded well to oxygen vacancy rather than hydrogen interstitial.