Nanoindentation and Nanowear Studies of Sputter-Deposited Ultrathin Tin Oxide Films on Glass Substrates
- PDF / 384,649 Bytes
- 6 Pages / 612 x 792 pts (letter) Page_size
- 32 Downloads / 217 Views
NANOINDENTATION AND NANOWEAR STUDIES OF SPUTTER-DEPOSITED ULTRATHIN TIN OXIDE FILMS ON GLASS SUBSTRATES J. G. Wang1), M. E. Stahley1), C. G. Pantano1), D. H. Yang2), T. Anderson2) and L. Kuhn2) 1) Materials Research Institute & Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 2) Hysitron, Inc., 5251 W. 73rd St., Minneapolis, MN 55439
ABSTRACT Tin oxide thin films on glass are used in a variety of applications ranging from transparent conductors to coupling layers to wear resistant coatings. The mechanical properties and wear resistance are crucial to most applications of tin oxide films. In the present study, ultrathin tin oxide films were sputter-deposited on the two different glass substrates. Nanoindentation, nanoscratch and nanowear experiments were performed on the tin oxide films with different thickness using a Hysitron TriboScope at different loads. Hardness and Young’s modulus of elasticity were determined from the depth sensing load-displacement data. A lower friction coefficient was observed on the thinner film using the ramping load scratch test. Critical loads were determined by the ramping load scratch test and multi-slide nanowear tests on the tin oxide film deposited on the alkali contained commercial float glass (LOF-P16) glass. Discussion on the effect of surface chemistry on the mechanical properties was made. INTRODUCTION Tin oxide thin films on glass are utilized in a wide range of technologically important applications. Optically, tin oxide is an UV absorber and IR reflector, so it is used in various solar control applications on glass. Under the right conditions, tin oxide thin films can be electrically conductive and optically transparent making them transparent conductors where they are used as electrodes, resistive heaters, and for static charge dissipation. Tin oxide thin films are also mechanically hard and chemically inert allowing their use in harsh environments. Since organic substances bond better with tin oxide than glass, it is used as an adhesion-promoting layer for polyethylene in the glass container industry. Also, tin oxide films are used as solid-state gas sensors for the detection of various substances such as CO and NOx. Any of the traditional chemical or physical deposition techniques can be used to deposit tin oxide films such as spray pyrolysis [1,2], chemical vapor deposition (CVD) [3,4], ion assisted deposition [5], thermal evaporation [6,7], or magnetic or radio frequency (RF) sputtering [8,9]. The purpose of this study is to investigate the nanomechanical properties of the ultrathin tin oxide films deposited on the different glass substrate by radio frequency (RF) sputtering. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The tin oxide films were deposited on two substrate glasses CGW 1737 and commerical float glass (COF-P16) by reactive RF sputtering a 99.99% pure metallic tin target in an argon/oxygen mixture in a magnetron sputter-deposition system built by the Kurt J. Lesker L3.6.1
Company. A mixture of 75 Ar/25 O2 was used
Data Loading...
