Transition from a nanocrystalline phase to an amorphous phase in In-Si-O thin films: The correlation between the microstructure and the optical properties

We investigated the structural and optical properties of In-Si-O thin films as the phase abruptly changes from nanocrystalline (nc) to amorphous (a) with increasing Si content. In-Si-O thin films were deposited on Si substrate using a co-sputtering deposition method. The RF power of the In2O3 target was fixed at 100 W, while the power applied to the SiO2 target was varied between 0W and 60 W. At the Si = 2.8 at. %, i.e., at the onset of amorphous phase, the optical properties, including the dielectric functions, optical gap energies, and phonon modes, changed abruptly which were triggered by changes in the crystallinity and surface morphology. X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra showed crystalline (c-) In2O3-like peaks below Si = 2.2%. Additionally, a broad peak associated with an amorphous (a-) In2O3 phase appeared above 2.8%. However, the Raman spectra of In-Si-O showed very weak peaks associated with c-In2O3 below 2.2%, and then showed a strong Raman peak associated with a-In-Si-O above 2.8%. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements showed that oxygen vacancy-related peak intensities increased abruptly above Si = 2.8%. The contrasting results of XRD and Raman measurements can be explained as follows: first, the large enhancement in Drude tails in the a-In-Si-O phase was caused by Si-induced amorphization and a large increase in the density of oxygen vacancies in the In-Si-O thin films. Second, the apparently drastic increase of the Raman peak intensity near 364 cm(-1) (for amorphous phase, i.e., above Si = 2.8%) is attributed to a disorder-activated infrared mode caused by both the amorphization and the increase in the oxygen vacancy density in In-Si-O thin films. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.