Applied Surface Science 449 (2018) 39–47 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Applied Surface Science jou rn al h om ep age: www.elsevier.com/locate/apsusc Full Length Article DC magnetron sputtered aligned ITO nano-rods with the influence of varying oxygen pressure T. Arockiadoss a , M. Kovendhan b , D. Paul Joseph c,d,∗ , A. Sendil Kumar e , Byung Chun Choi f , K.S. Shim g a Department of Physics, Directorate of Distance Education, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, Tamilnadu, 625021, India b Department of Environmental Engineering, INHA University, Incheon, 402751, South Korea c Department of Physics, National Institute of Technology, Warangal, Telangana, 506004, India d Center for Advanced Materials, National Institute of Technology, Warangal, Telangana, 506004, India e School of Physics, University of Hyderabad, Gachibowli, Hyderabad, 500046, India f Department of Physics, Pukyong National University, Busan, 608 737, South Korea g Cooperative Laboratory Center, Pukyong National University, Busan, 608 737, South Korea a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 20 August 2017 Received in revised form 20 November 2017 Accepted 15 December 2017 Available online 21 December 2017 Keywords: Indium tin oxide Magnetron sputtering Texture coefficient Nanorods Bandgap and figure of merit a b s t r a c t Aligned Nano rods of transparent conducting indium tin oxide (ITO) were deposited on glass substrates using dc magnetron sputtering technique from an ITO alloy target at two different oxygen pressures placing the substrates at three different lateral positions inside the chamber. The (4 4 0) oriented ITO thin films at optimal deposition conditions with high transmittance, low sheet resistance, good crystallinity and novel morphology was obtained at room temperature deposition. The structural, optical, morpho- logical, electrical transport behavior and figure of merit imply the need in optimizing the positioning of the substrates within the chamber during deposition for achieving films of best desired properties. © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films have been studied extensively due to its transparent conducting property for usage in a variety of applications such as flat panel displays, solar cells, heat reflect- ing windows etc. [1]. ITO is also widely used as anode contact in organic light-emitting diodes (OLED’s) [2]. There is a large demand for smooth, novel nanostructured ITO thin films for use in various emerging devices especially with the rapid advancement of various smart technologies. Functional ITO thin films have been produced by a variety of methods, such as rf-magnetron sputtering [3], pulsed laser deposition [4], spray pyrolysis [5], dc-magnetron sputtering [6] etc. Though the ITO thin films have been explored quite for a long period, prepared by many methods, there is no sufficient basic study in which researchers observe interesting morphology change over with the location of the substrate during deposition. This moti- ∗ Corresponding author at: Department of Physics, National Institute of Technol- ogy, Warangal, Telangana State, 506004, India. E-mail address: palphymail@gmail.com (D. Paul Joseph). vated us to optimize the sputtering unit for the best location to get ITO films with desired properties. In the case of dc-magnetron sput- tering, in-homogeneity in the films depending upon the location of the substrate placed below the target is often encountered. Litera- ture reports in general show amorphous nature of ITO films when deposited at room temperature [7,8] except for few reports with crystallinity [9,10]. The reactive oxygen pressure and substrate temperature plays a dominant role on the surface morphology and high value of transmittance and conductivity [11,12]. In this paper we demonstrate deposition of nanorods of crystalline ITO at room temperature (without intentional substrate heating) with varying morphology with the substrate holder held static below the target at three different lateral positions and also by varying oxygen pres- sure. The ITO films were deposited by varying these parameters are explored for their structural, morphological, optical, transport and figure of merit properties and the results are discussed. 2. Preparation of target and deposition of films The ITO target (In 2 O 3 , 90 wt% and SnO 2 , 10 wt% of 99.99% purity) mixture was taken in a quartz tube and treated at 500 ◦ C for 24 h in https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2017.12.129 0169-4332/© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.