ITO thin films deposited by RTE on flexible transparent substrates

Indium-tin oxide (ITO) thin films were successfully deposited onto transparent flexible substrates of hydroxypropylcellulose (HPC) cross-linked with 1,4-di-isocyanatobutane (BDI). The effect of O 2 plasma exposure on the transmittance and sheet resistance of the ITO coated flexible substrates has been studied. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) shows that these type of substrates have a large surface roughness (4.8 nm) which originates high values in the diffuse transmittance. The best properties of the resulting ITO films on flexible substrates are an average total transmittance in the visible region of about 80% and a sheet resistance of about 4 x 10 4 Ω/sq.