The influence of laser-annealing pulse width on optical transparency and carrier dynamics of ITO thin films

Indium tin oxide (ITO) has important application in photoelectronic and photonic devices, demanding effective approach and appropriate parameters to modulate the ITO properties. The effects of laser annealing at 1064 nm with different pulse width (875 ps, 10 ns, and 300 ns) on optical and nonlinear optical properties of ITO films were investigated. Compared with 875 ps and 10 ns, laser annealing at 300 ns significantly improved the near-infrared transmittance of ITO films. The change arises from the elimination of oxygen vacancies and reduction of tin oxides, resulting in the decrease of carrier concentration. Finite element simulations indicate that laser annealing with pulse width of 875 ps and 10 ns have high instantaneous peak temperatures of 1128.5 K and 783 K, respectively, while the temperature accumulation between pulses is negligible. On the contrary, the laser annealing with a pulse width of 300 nshas lower peak transient temperature of 343 K but high static residence temperature of 973 K. The results reveal that the modification of ITO films depends more on the static average temperature rather than the instantaneous peak temperature. The modulation of carrier dynamics in both amplitude and temporal domain was demonstrated after 300 ns laser annealing, achieving ultrafast transient response approximately 150 fs. This work provides theoretical and experimental basis for us to select suitable laser conditions for directional annealing of ITO film to make it suitable for the applications of broad optical spectrum photovoltaic devices or ultrafast optical exchange for high-speed data processing.