The Benefits and Uses of Indium Tin Oxide Coatings

Years of experience and state-of-the-art technology have enabled Diamond Coatings to hone their indium tin oxide coating process to perfection and become market leading suppliers of ITO coated products. But what exactly are the benefits and uses of ITO coatings?

The Indium Tin Oxide Coating Process

ITO coatings can be applied to a diversity of substrates including PET/PEN films, glass, plastic (polycarbonate) and acrylic via vacuum deposition. Working in close cooperation with clients, Diamond Coatings have perfected this process and developed ITO coatings that can be applied at varying sheet resistances not only to flat substrates, but, thanks to their flexible, purpose-designed substrate handling system, also to shaped and diverse injection-moulded parts.

Designed to meet even the most complex of client-specific requirements, these coatings offer significant benefits that make them the ideal solution to the demands of applications within both industry and research.

Benefits of Indium Tin Oxide Coated Products

So, what are the benefits of these coatings? The primary benefits of Diamond Coatings’ Diamox ITO coatings are their high:

• Optical Transparency – At wavelengths from 525nm to 600nm, 20 ohms/sq. coatings have typical light transmission rates (peak) of 81% on polycarbonates and 87% on glass substrates.
• Electrical conductivity – Sheet resistances start from as little as 2.5 Ohms/sq. (although it should be noted that sheet resistances <10 ohms/sq. can be produced only on glass substrates)
• Shielding Effectiveness – At 1GHz and 1MHz, ITO coatings offer respective shielding effectiveness rates of 26dB and 58dB. Consequently inhibiting, minimising and potentially eliminating ESD, RFI and EMI effects, this serves to improve both the overall performance and reception of electronic devices.
• Hardwearing Durability – Offering good chemical stability and resistance to cracking, crazing and delaminating; flaking, peeling and water (moisture) penetration, ITO coatings show neither evidence of optical degradation nor of reductions in sheet resistances or coating adhesion when tested to MIL STD 48497 (i.e. exposure to salt spray and humidity/thermal cycling).

What’s more, ITO coatings can, unlike many other coatings of doped metal oxide, be precision etched to permit creation of fine conductor paths and meet even the most intricate and complex client-specific patterning requirements.

ITO Coating Uses

These benefits combine to make indium tin oxide coatings the preferred choice for use in applications including, among others:

• Electroluminescent Lamps/Displays, Energy Efficient Windows & Gas Sensors
• Electrochromic, Field Emission, Plasma & LCD Displays
• Photovoltaic Cells, Heat Reflective Coatings & Heated Display Filters (Optically Clear)
• Electrostatic Dissipation, ITO Coated Films & EMI/RFI Shielding
• ITO Microscope Cover Slips/Slides, Capacitive Touch/Control Panels & Antistatic Coatings
• “Hot Mirrors” (i.e. infrared-reflecting coatings) for the automotive industry & More,

The role of indium tin oxide coated glass as a substrate for cell cultures can also be easily extended, which opens new opportunities for cell growth studies involving correlative light and electron microscopy.

In addition, ITO coatings can also be used within nanotechnology to offer a path to new generation solar cells with the potential to provide ultra-lightweight, flexible and low-cost cells for an extensive range of applications.

Get in Touch

Would an ITO coating benefit your application/project? Contact us now to discuss your specific requirements with our technical team, who will be happy to recommend/design the most suitable solution to perfectly meet your specific needs.