Investigation of diffusion and crystallization processes in thin ITO films by temperature and time resolved grazing incidence X-ray diffractometry M. Quaas a, * , H. Steffen b , R. Hippler b , H. Wulff a a Institute of Chemistry, University of Greifswald, Soldmannstr. 23, D-17489 Greifswald, Germany b Institute of Physics, University of Greifswald, Domstr. 10a, D-17489 Greifswald, Germany Received 13 January 2003; accepted for publication 12 June 2003 Abstract Oxygen diffusion into metallic In/Sn films and crystallite growth of thin indium tin oxide (ITO) films were inves- tigated by in situ high temperature grazing incidence X-ray diffractometry (HT-GIXRD) at temperatures ranging from 100 to 300 °C. The investigated films were deposited by dc magnetron sputtering from a metallic target at different oxygen flows and bias voltages. The deposition process influences not only the film properties but also the film reactions during the post-deposition annealing process. The ITO formation is determined by two processes: the diffusion of oxygen into the metallic grains and a fast crystallization process. Kinetic parameters for both processes were derived. A model was developed which allows the determination of the diffusion coefficient D from the time dependence of the integral intensity of the ITO X-ray re- flection. Diffusion coefficients as well as the activation energies are influenced by the bias voltage but not by the oxygen flow. According to the Johnson–Mehl–Avrami theory, the crystallization can be described as a two-dimensional process. Ó 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Models of surface kinetics; X-ray scattering, diffraction, and reflection; Sputter deposition; Diffusion and migration; Crystallization; Amorphous thin films 1. Introduction Studies of diffusion and crystallite growth in thin films have attracted wide attention due to the increased use of multilayered thin film structures in modern electronic devices. Particularly with regard to the time stability of such devices, the investi- gation of phase transitions or diffusion processes are of special interest. In situ high temperature grazing incidence X-ray diffractometry (HT- GIXRD) is well suited, but so far rarely used for characterizing the kinetic parameters of such pro- cesses. In this paper we present both a quantitative description of oxygen diffusion into plasma en- hanced deposited metallic In/Sn films and of the crystallite growth of indium tin oxide thin films. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +49-3834-864435; fax: +49- 3834-864457. E-mail address: quaas@xray.chemie.uni-greifswald.de (M. Quaas). 0039-6028/$ - see front matter Ó 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S0039-6028(03)00850-1 Surface Science 540 (2003) 337–342 www.elsevier.com/locate/susc