ITO coating by reactive magnetron sputtering–comparison of properties from DC and MF processing

The aim of ITO process technology development is to obtain stable film properties with exceptionally low resistivity and high transmittance within the visible spectrum range. The challenge for this development is to upgrade such ITO technology for large area coating in production. Therefore, a comparison of processing with oxide or metallic targets for both DC and MF mode was performed. The comparisons with regard to ITO film properties are related to InSn alloy targets vs. ceramic ITO targets, single or dual magnetrons, process control mode, dynamic deposition rate and substrate temperature. Plasma Emission Monitor control works as an useful tool to deposit optimized ITO films having both low resistivity and high transmittance. Best results are obtained in dual DC mode with resistivities of less than 1.6×10−4 Ω cm at dynamic deposition rates of 110 nm×m/min.