Advanced indium-tin oxide ceramics for sputtering targets

Indium-tin oxide (ITO) ceramic sputtering targets are widely used in formation of electrically conductive transparent thin films for electrodes in flat panel displays, solar cells, antistatic films and others, and which are commonly produced by a conventional dc magnetron sputtering process. The ceramic targets should be of high purity with a uniform microcrystalline structure and should possess high density and high electrical conductivity. In the present work, the challenges of the ceramic composition (e.g. the ratio of In2O3 and SnO2) and manufacturing are considered; they include the use of high quality starting materials, particularly In2O3 powders with respect to purity, morphology and sinterability, manufacturing routes and sintering process. Positive experience in the development and manufacturing of ITO ceramic planar sputtering targets using in-house prepared In2O3 powders is reported. ITO ceramic tiles with areas up to 1500–1700 cm2 and densities of 99+% of TD are manufactured. Physical properties of the ITO ceramics and sputtered films have been studied.