Recycling Method of Used Indium Tin Oxide Targets

Abstract

In this study, we demonstrated a simple and eco-friendly method, including mechanical polishing and attrition milling processes, to recycle sputtered indium tin oxide targets to indium tin oxide nanopowders and targets for sputtered transparent conductive films. The utilized indium tin oxide target was first pulverized to a powder of sub- to a few- micrometer size by polishing using a diamond particle coated polishing wheel. The calcination of the crushed indium tin oxide powder was carried out at <TEX>$1000^{\circ}C$</TEX> for 1 h, based on the thermal behavior of the indium tin oxide powder; then, the powders were downsized to nanometer size by attrition milling. The average particle size of the indium tin oxide nanopowder was decreased by increasing attrition milling time and was approximately 30 nm after attrition milling for 15 h. The morphology, chemical composition, and microstructure of the recycled indium tin oxide nanopowder were investigated by FE-SEM, EDX, and TEM. A fully dense indium tin oxide sintered specimen with 97.4% of relative density was fabricated using the recycled indium tin oxide nanopowders under atmospheric pressure at <TEX>$1500^{\circ}C$</TEX> for 4 h. The microstructure, phase, and purity of the indium tin oxide target were examined by FE-SEM, XRD, and ICP-MS.