Electrical and optical properties of indium tin oxide films prepared on plastic substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering

• Published in: Thin solid films 2008-02, Vol.516 (8), p.1984-1991
• Main Authors: Yang, Chih-hao, Lee, Shih-chin, Lin, Tien-chai, Chen, Suz-cheng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Deposition by sputtering; Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and low-dimensional structures; Electronic transport phenomena in thin films and low-dimensional structures; Exact sciences and technology; Indium tin oxide (ITO); Materials science; Methods of deposition of films and coatings; film growth and epitaxy; Optical properties; Optical properties and condensed-matter spectroscopy and other interactions of matter with particles and radiation; Optical properties of specific thin films; Physical vapor deposition (PVD); Physics; Resistivity
• ISSN: 0040-6090; 1879-2731
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tsf.2007.05.093

The influence of deposition power, thickness and oxygen gas flow rate on electrical and optical properties of indium tin oxide (ITO) films deposited on flexible, transparent substrates, such as polycarbonate (PC) and metallocene cyclo-olefin copolymers (mCOC), at room temperature was studied. The ITO films were prepared by radio frequency magnetron sputtering with the target made by sintering a mixture of 90 wt.% of indium oxide (In 2O 3) and 10 wt.% of tin oxide (SnO 2). The results show that (1) average transmission in the visible range (400–700 nm) was about 85%–90%, and (2) ITO films deposited on glass, PC and mCOC at 100 W without supplying additional oxygen gas had optimum resistivity of 6.35 × 10 −4 Ω-cm, 5.86 × 10 −4 Ω-cm and 6.72 × 10 −4 Ω-cm, respectively. In terms of both electrical and optical properties of indium tin oxide films, the optimum thickness was observed to be 150–300 nm.