In Situ Crystallization and Morphological Evolution in Multicomponent Indium Oxide Thin Films

The
crystallization kinetics of Zn0.3In1.4Sn0.3O3 (ZITO-30) thin films is investigated
via isothermal in situ transmission electron microscopy measurements.
Extensive analysis is conducted to reveal the nucleation mechanism
and growth rate at four different temperatures. The results show that
the nucleation rate in this system is time-dependent and continuously
decelerates following a power law decay. The crystal growth rate is
constant at a given temperature, and interface-limited growth is the
controlling mechanism in the kinetics of amorphous ZITO-30 crystallization.
The activation energy for the overall process and interface growth
are derived from the experimental data. A morphological study of the
grains shows that the {100} interfaces have low mobility and are responsible
for the anisotropic crystal shapes. It is found that the {111} and
{100} planes of the crystal form parallel to the film–vapor
interface during the nucleation process. The results demonstrate a
rather complex yet tractable correlation between the experimental
results and theoretical underpinning in complex multicomponent oxide
thin films.