Thickness Dependence of Properties of ITO Films Deposited on PET Substrates

Indium tin oxide (ITO) films with various thicknesses from 104 nm to 513 nm were prepared onto polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates by using r.f. magnetron sputtering without intentionally heating the substrates. The structural, optical, and electrical properties of ITO films were investigated as a function of film thickness. It was found that the amorphous nature of the ITO film was dominant below the thickness of about 200 nm but the degree of the crystallinity increased with an increasing thickness above the thickness of about 250 nm, resulting in the increase of carrier concentration and therefore reducing the electrical resistivity from 5.1 x 10(-3) to 9.4 x 10(-4) omega x cm. The average transmittance (400-800 nm) of the ITO deposited PET substrates decreased as the film thickness was increasing and was above 80% for the thickness below 315 nm. The results show that the improvement of the film crystallinity with the film thickness contributes to the increase of the carrier concentration and the enhancement of the electrical conductivity.