Towards high quality ITO coatings: The impact of nitrogen admixture in HiPIMS discharges

The paper reports controlled deposition of optically transparent and electrically conductive ITO films prepared by a combination of rf (13.56MHz) and High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HiPIMS) systems without any post deposition thermal treatment/annealing. It is shown that (i) reactive admixture of N2 gas to the process and (ii) pressure in the deposition chamber enable to optimize optical properties of ITO films. Furthermore, the changes of electrical resistivity were observed, too. The variation of these ITO properties is attributed to change of crystalline structure measured by XRD methods. •ITO films were prepared by combination of RF and HiPIMS discharges at low temperature.•Nitrogen admixture leads to a substantial decrease in electrical resistivity.•ITO film resistivity can be tuned in range of an order of magnitude.•Variation of ITO properties are attributed to change of crystallinity measured by XRD.