Thermal atomic layer deposition of In2O3 thin films using a homoleptic indium triazenide precursor and water

Indium oxide (In2O3) is an important transparent conducting material widely used in optoelectronic applications. Herein, we study the deposition of In2O3 by thermal atomic layer deposition (ALD) using our recently reported indium(III) triazenide precursor and H2O. A temperature interval with self-limiting growth was found between ~270–385°C with a growth per cycle of ~1.0 Å. The deposited films were polycrystalline cubic In2O3 with In/O ratios of ~1.20, and low levels of C and no detectable N impurities. The transmittance of the films was found to be >70% in visible light and the resistivity was found to be 0.2 mΩcm. The high growth rates, low impurities, high optical transmittance, and low resistivity of these films give promise to this process being used for ALD of In2O3 films that are good candidates for potential display and touch-screen applications.