Linear model application for the design of transparent conductive In₂O₃ electrodes

Transparent conductive coatings with high electrical conductivity and maximum optical transparency attracts much attention in recent years. Most of the works published till present in this field were concentrated in the physical analysis and design of thin film coatings. In this paper we present a different approach to the fabrication design of transparent conductive thin films. Instead of analyzing complex physical models of the final product, a mathematical linear model to control the processing stages of these films production is presented. This linear model is based on a mathematical approach which optimize the processing procedure parameters to yield the best coating performance. The main idea in this linear model optimization procedure lies in finding functions' extremums using their derivatives and gradients. The Transparent Conductive Oxide (TCO) Indium Oxide thin films (In₂O₃) were obtained by DC magnetron sputtering from pure Indium Oxide target in an argon atmosphere. The obtained transparent conducting thin films had the following parameters: - Transparency in 550 nm wavelength - 90.7% (including the glass substrate with an absolute transparency of 91.08%); - resistivity of 0.043 Ω·cm for a 2525 angstrom film. As a result of this work the linear model was found to be a useful instrument for the general fabrication design of thin film systems.