INFLUENCE OF THE SiO AND SiON BUFFER LAYER ON IZO THIN FILMS DEPOSITED ON PET BY INCLINATION OPPOSITE TARGET TYPE DC MAGNETRON SPUTTERING METHOD

Abstract

IZO films were deposited onto polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate at room temperature by the inclination opposite target type DC magnetron sputtering equipment. In this paper, SiO or SiON thin films of about 20nm thickness were introduced as buffer layers between the IZO thin films and the PET substrate. Electrical resistivity, transmittance and surface uniformity properties were investigated. It is clear that the film surface roughness of multilayer thin films was less than that of IZO monolayer thin films. The surface average roughness ( Ra ) of the multilayer film with 230nm IZO layer thickness was about 1.6nm, and that of IZO monolayer film was 2.4nm. All of the multilayer samples had high optical transmittance (about 90%) in the visible region. Of particular note, the transmittance of multilayer films was slightly higher than that of monolayer films when the IZO layer was thicker than 200nm. High electrical conductivity was also achieved with thick films.