Sputtered tin silicon oxide films for durable solar control coatings

The optical, mechanical, and chemical properties of solar control coatings with a transparent tin silicon oxide (TSO) film were investigated. The TSO films were formed by reactive de sputtering from alloy targets with the compositions of 90Sn-10Si, 80Sn-20Si, and 50Sn50Si (at.%). Hereafter, the 50TSO film denotes the oxide film prepared from the 50Sn-50Si target. Triple layer (SOTSO/TixNx/SOTSO/glass) and double layer (50TSO/TiNx/glass) systems were studied as the solar control coating. These coatings were compared to those with the SnO2/TiNx/SnO2/glass and TiNx/glass systems. The coatings were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). The refractive index at 632.8 nm was measured. The 50TSO triple layer system was superior to the SnO2 triple layer system in a sand eraser abrasion resistance and chemical durability. A thin 50TSO cover layer over a TiNx layer was effective for improving a powder abrasion resistance. Stable long term deposition of the 50TSO film was realized using a pulsed sputtering technique. The mechanical resistance improvement in the 50TSO triple layer system was discussed. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.