Sn doped In2O3 (ITO) and ITO/Cu/ITO (ICI) multilayer films were prepared on glass substrates with a reactive radiofrequency (RF) magnetron sputter without intentional substrate heating, and then the influence of the Cu interlayer on themethanol gas sensitivity of the ICI films were considered. Although both ITO and ICI film sensors had the same thicknessof 100nm, the ICI sensors had a sandwich structure of ITO 50nm/Cu 5nm/ITO 45nm. The ICI films showed a ten timeshigher carrier density than that of the pure ITO films. However, the Cu interlayer may also have caused the decrement of carriermobility because the interfaces between the ITO and Cu interlayer acted as a barrier to carrier movement. Although the ICIfilms had two times a lower mobility than that of the pure ITO films, the ICI films had a higher conductivity of 3.6·10-4Ωcmdue to a higher carrier density. The changes in the sensitivity of the film sensors caused by methanol gas ranging from 50 to500ppm were measured at room temperature. The ICI sensors showed a higher gas sensitivity than that of the ITO single layersensors. Finally, it can be concluded that the ICI film sensors have the potential to be used as improved methanol gas sensors.

Transparent ITO films were deposited on a polycarbonate substrate with RF magnetron sputtering in a pure argon(Ar) and oxygen (O2) gas atmosphere, and then post deposition electro annealed for 20 minutes in a 4×10-1Pa vacuum. Electronbombardment with an accelerating voltage of 100V increased the substrate temperature to 120oC. XRD analysis of the depositedITO films did not show any diffraction peaks, while electro annealed films indicated the growth of crystallites on the (211), (222),and (400) planes. The sheet resistance of ITO films decreased from 103 to 82Ω/□. The optical transmittance of ITO films inthe visible wavelength region increased from 85 to 87%. Observation of the work function demonstrated that the electro-annealingincreased the work function of ITO films from 4.4 to 4.6eV. The electro annealed films demonstrated a larger figure of meritof 3.0×10-3Ω-1 than that of as deposited films. Therefore, the electro annealed films had better optoelectrical performances thanas deposited ITO films.

Transparent Sn-doped In2O3 (ITO) single-layer and ITO/Au/ITO multilayer films were deposited onglass substrates by reactive magnetron sputtering to compare the properties of the films. They were thenannealed in a vacuum of 1×10-2 Pa at temperatures ranging from 150 to 450oC for 20 min to determinethe effect of the annealing temperature on the properties of the films. As-deposited 100nm thick ITO filmsexhibit a sheet resistance of 130Ω/□ and optical transmittance of 77% at a wavelength length of 550nm. Byinserting a 5nm-thick Au layer in ITO/metal/ITO (IMI) films, the sheet resistance was decreased to as lowas 20Ω/□ and the optical transmittance was decreased to as little as 73% at 550nm. Post-deposition annealingof ITO/Au/ITO films led to considerably lower electrical resistivity and higher optical transparency. In the X-ray diffraction pattern, as-deposited ITO films did not show any diffraction peak, whereas as-deposited ITO/Au/ITO films have Au (222) and In2O3 (110) crystal planes. When the annealing temperature reached the 150- 450oC range, the both diffraction peak intensities increased significantly. A sheet resistance of 8Ω/□ and anoptical transmittance of 82% were obtained from the ITO/Au/ITO films annealed at 450oC.

Chromium nitride (CrN) films were deposited on silicon substrate by RF magnetron sputtering assisted by inductive coupled nitrogen plasma without intentional substrate heating. Films were deposited with different levels of bombarding energy by nitrogen ions (N+) to investigate the influence of substrate bias voltage (Vb) on the growth of CrN thin films. XRD spectra showed that the crystallographic structure of CrN films was strongly affected by substrate bias voltage. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) results showed that surface roughness and grain size of the CrN films varied significantly with bias voltage. For - 80 Vb depositions, the CrN films showed bigger grain sizes than those of other bias voltage conditions. The lowest surface roughness of 0.15 nm was obtained from the CrN films deposited at .130 Vb.