Role of plasma parameters on the characteristics properties of flexible transparent ITO films deposited by 3D facing and planar facing magnetron sources

A rectangular closed and hollow three-dimensionally confined large area magnetron source (3-DCLAMS) and a conventional moderate area facing target magnetron source (FTMS) have been used to study the plasma characteristics using different diagnostics at different working pressures. Flexible indium tin oxide (ITO) films deposited at similar operating conditions using these sources were characterized by numerous standard analyses to study their film properties. The 3-DCLAMS with high discharge current at a low-discharge voltage is capable of generating high plasma density, which assists a high ion flux and energy density on the substrate that is necessary for the high growth rate deposition of highly conductive crystalline ITO films with smooth surface morphology. Utilizing suitable plasma characteristics, highly conductive and transparent ITO films of 30 nm with the minimum resistivity ρ ∼ 4.1 × 10−4 Ω cm and ∼9.3 × 10−4 Ω cm and average transmittance T ∼ 84% and 82%, respectively, were deposited in the 3-DCLAMS and the FTMS system. The presented result shows that the 3-DCLAMS system could be useful for making high-quality, flexible ITO films at a very high deposition rate of ∼250 nm/min.