Influence of sputtering parameters on the electrical property of indium tin oxide film used for microwave absorbing

•The influence of sputtering time and power depends on the surface topography.•Sputtering time and power can change the square resistance on a small scale.•We studied the effect of oxygen flux on the carriers in the films.•The mechanism of conductivity changes with the increasing of oxygen flux.•We are sure that oxygen flux is suitable for changing the square resistance.

The indium tin oxide films used for microwave absorbing were prepared on unheated glass substrate by DC magnetron sputtering system. In order to control the square resistance of ITO films effectively, the influence of sputtering power, time and oxygen flux on the property of ITO films was investigated. The results showed that changing the sputtering power and time can regulate the square resistance of films on a small scale and the square resistance will increase continuously to a large value with the increasing oxygen flux. The sputtering parameters provide ITO thin films with good transmittance (70–90% in 350–800 nm spectra) and wide-ranged square resistance (from 20Ω/□ to 4800Ω/□).