Optical, electrical, structural and microstructural characteristics of rf sputtered ITO films developed for art protection coatings

Transparent and conductive tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) films have been prepared by rf sputtering in an Ar and Ar+O2 gas mixture, both with and without additional substrate heating. The influence of both deposition conditions and post-annealing treatment on optical, electrical, structural and microstructural properties of the ITO films has been investigated. The optical constants have been calculated in the range 320–2500 nm using a combination of several theoretical models.