Coatings sputter out

Scientists from Oxford University have developed a less expensive alternative to indium tin oxide — a transparent conductive coating used for products ranging from flat-screen TVs to solar cells.

The product is being commercialised through the university’s spin-out vehicle, ISIS Innovation.

Jamie Ferguson, project manager at ISIS Innovation, said the replacement material is created by doping zinc oxide with silicon. Unlike indium tin oxide, which is sputtered onto surfaces inside large industrial vacuums, he said the silicon-doped zinc oxide is formed on the surface of a product using a ‘solution phase’ technique.

Ferguson said that ISIS Innovation believes its deposition technique will be attractive to many companies looking to move away from sputtering.

‘Sputtering limits the size of the area you can deposit over,’ he said, adding that this becomes a problem when considering the increasing size of glass for products such as flat-screen TVs.

Ferguson said ISIS’s silicon-doped zinc oxide is not a perfect replacement for indium tin oxide.