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

Abstract 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 2 O 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.

[1]  C. Guillén,et al.  Comparison study of ITO thin films deposited by sputtering at room temperature onto polymer and glass substrates , 2005 .

[2]  B. Chiou,et al.  Deposition of Indium Tin Oxide Films on Acrylic Substrates by Radiofrequency Magnetron Sputtering , 1994 .

[3]  R. B. Tahar,et al.  ELECTRONIC TRANSPORT IN TIN-DOPED INDIUM OXIDE THIN FILMS PREPARED BY SOL-GEL TECHNIQUE , 1998 .

[4]  Zakya H. Kafafi,et al.  Indium tin oxide thin films grown on flexible plastic substrates by pulsed-laser deposition for organic light-emitting diodes , 2001 .

[5]  Alberto Piqué,et al.  Effect of film thickness on the properties of indium tin oxide thin films , 2000 .

[6]  N. Lee,et al.  Properties of amorphous tin-doped indium oxide thin films deposited by O2/Ar mixture ion beam-assisted system at room temperature , 2000 .

[7]  M. T. Bhatti,et al.  Characterization of rf-sputtered indium tin oxide thin films , 2004 .

[8]  K. H. Schulz,et al.  Electrical, optical and structural characteristics of indium-tin-oxide thin films deposited on glass and polymer substrates , 1997 .

[9]  C. N. Carvalho,et al.  Effect of thickness on the properties of ITO thin films deposited by RF- PERTE on unheated, flexible, transparent substrates , 2002 .

[10]  Haeri Kim,et al.  Properties of dc magnetron sputtered indium tin oxide films on polymeric substrates at room temperature , 2001 .

[11]  Ronald P. Howson,et al.  Use of the magnetron-sputtering technique for the control of the properties of indium tin oxide thin films , 1999 .

[12]  Abhai Mansingh,et al.  R.f.-sputtered indium tin oxide films on water-cooled substrates , 1988 .

[13]  K. Chopra,et al.  Transparent conductors—A status review , 1983 .

[14]  Carla Minarini,et al.  Properties of ITO thin films deposited by RF magnetron sputtering at elevated substrate temperature , 2000 .

[15]  X. W. Sun,et al.  Pulsed laser deposited crystalline ultrathin indium tin oxide films and their conduction mechanisms , 1998 .

[16]  T. Minami,et al.  Physics of very thin ITO conducting films with high transparency prepared by DC magnetron sputtering , 1995 .

[17]  Alberto Piqué,et al.  Indium tin oxide thin films for organic light-emitting devices , 1999 .

[18]  K. Nishio,et al.  Preparation and electrical properties of ITO thin films by dip-coating process , 1996, Journal of Materials Science.

[19]  Andrew T. S. Wee,et al.  Investigation of annealing effects on indium tin oxide thin films by electron energy loss spectroscopy , 2000 .

[20]  Shui-Tong Lee,et al.  Flexible organic light-emitting device based on magnetron sputtered indium-tin-oxide on plastic substrate , 2004 .