INDIUM TIN OXIDE NANOSIZED TRANSPARENT CONDUCTIVE THIN FILMS OBTAINED BY SPUTTERING FROM LARGE SIZE PLANAR AND ROTARY TARGETS

摘要

Indium tin oxide (ITO) transparent conductive thin films widely used as electrode layers in optoelectronic devices, such as flat panel displays, solar cell, touch panels and some others, are usually manufactured by sputtering process, and the requirements for these films in terms of their quality and manufacturing efficiency are constantly growing. In order to obtain high quality films, high quality ITO ceramic sputtering targets and optimized sputtering process have to be used. Advanced ITO sputtering targets produced with a planar design consisting of large tiles and with a new generation rotary design based on hollow cylindrical bodies have been developed and commercialized. ITO sputtering targets with high density (up to 99.5% of TD) and uniform microcrystalline structure allow to produce nano-crystalline thin films with properties, which satisfy to industrial requirements, using optimized DC magnetron sputtering process. The obtained nanosized thin films have high electrical conductivity and transmittance (up to 93%). The influence of target configuration and the features of the sputtering process, which define thin film morphology and properties, are discussed.