The magnetron sputtering system utilized a sintered ITO target having an Sn of 100 wt. % were used as targets after slightly compressing them into copper holders, 3 inches in diameter. The substrate temperature during deposition was maintained at low value. The sputtering deposition was carried out in a pure argon atmosphere at a pressure from 5x10-6 to 2x10 -3 torr and the sputtering power at 150 W. The substrate was fixed directly above the target with a target-to-substrate distance of 6 cm. Before the sputtering deposition, presputtering was carried out under the same condition as the deposition. A parallel experiment on ITO films deposited onto glass substrate was also carried out for comparison. The deposition times stared from 10 mints with equivalence varying to 15 and 20 mints. The different ITO film thicknesses of 25.0 nm, 50.0 nm and 100 nm were used in this work.

The Ar background gas pressure will not necessarily effect the content of a metal oxide, however one can tinker with the deposition rate, structure, and even porosity of thin films by varying the pressure.

Please see following articles

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2018.07.147

Nickel-based bilayer thin-film anodes for low-temperature solid oxide fuel cells

DOI: 10.1039/C7TA10273A

Experimentation and Modelling of Nanostructured Nickel Cermet Anodes for Submicron SOFCs Fuelled Indirectly by Industrial Waste Carbon

DOI: 10.1039/c7ra02719b

Integrated design of a Ni thin-film electrode on a porous alumina template for affordable and high-performance low-temperature solid oxide fuel cells

DOI: 10.1016/j.cap.2017.07.009

Effect of 20% O 2 reactive gas on RF-sputtered Ni-SDC cermet anodes for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells” [Curr. Appl. Phys. 16 (2016) 1680 – 1686]

Working pressure is the summation of both working and reactive gases pressures. Therefore, the most important parameter related to the working pressure is the mixing ratio of these two gases. For example, if you use argon as working gas and oxygen as reactive gas, then the mixing ratio of Ar:O2 has the most effective role to determine the properties of the prepared samples. See the attached article for example.