Surface characteristics of indium-tin oxide cleaned by remote plasma

We investigated the remote oxygen and hydrogen plasma cleaning of indium-fin oxide and its surface electronic properties. Samples cleaned by hydrogen plasma after oxygen plasma cleaning showed the complete absence of surface contaminants while samples cleaned by only hydrogen or oxygen plasma showed some residual contaminants. Work function is mainly affected by oxygen plasma treatments while sheet resistance is more closely related to the removal of surface carbon contaminants. This study revealed that surface dipoles due to the O(-) ions are believed to have a more significant contribution to the change in work function than the reduction of Sn(4+).