Optical and Electrical Properties of ITO Transparent Conductive Film Deposited on thin Glass and Thick Plastic Substrates using Sputtering Process

In this study, ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) commonly used as a transparent conductive film was deposited on thin glass and thick plastic substrates using DC sputtering equipment, and the optical and electrical characteristics were analyzed. For the experiments, ITO film thicknesses of 900 Å, 1100 Å, and 3200 Å were formed on two different substrates. First, the electrical surface resistance showed a sharp increase from 29 Ω/□ to 16.5 MΩ/□ as the film thickness increased. Next, an analysis of the reaction between light and the film was investigated. The absorption rate shows an opposite trend to transmittance. The bandgap of the films could be determined using absorption. It was found that as the thickness increased, the bandgap decreased. For the application of ITO with a thickness of 1000 Å as a transparent electrode in AMOLED, the researchers examined transmittance and surface resistance based on oxygen concentration. © 2024 Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers. All rights reserved.