Antireflective coating for ITO films deposited on glass substrate

The refractive index n of radio-frequency (r.f.) magnetron sputtered indium tin oxide (ITO) films varies with sputtering parameters, such as sputtering power and oxygen percentage in the sputtering ambient. In this study, the feasibility to fabricate multilayer antireflective (AR) coating with a single ITO target by controlling the sputtering conditions is explored. Reduction in the reflectance can be achieved by using a one-quarter-wavelength inner layer ITO with a refractive index n = 1.87 and a one-quarter-wavelength outer layer ITO with n = 2.17. Hence, a single ITO target suffices in the preparation of multilayer AR coating. This simplifies the deposition processes and equipment for the fabrication of AR coating. Surface corrugation, another approach to the reduction of reflectance, is also discussed.