ITO thin films deposited by RTE on flexible transparent substrate

Indium-tin oxide (ITO) thin films were successfully deposited onto transpar ent flexible substrates of hydroxypropylcellulose (HPC) cross-linked with 1 ,4-di-isocyanatobutane (BDI), The effect of O-2 plasma exposure on the tran smittance and sheet resistance of the ITO coated flexible substrates has be en studied. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) shows that these type of substrat es have a large surface roughness (4.8 nm) which originates high values in the diffuse transmittance. The best properties of the resulting ITO films o n flexible substrates are an average total transmittance in the visible reg ion of about 80% and a sheet resistance of about 4 x 10(4) Omega /sq. (C) 2 001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.