Electronic coatings with different properties
Electrically conductive coatings
In the simplest cases, electrically conductive coatings are thin metal films applied by a DC sputtering process under vacuum (DC sputtering). Depending on the substrate material or underlying layer, the barrier or adhesion properties of the metal coating also play a role in addition to the level of electrical conductivity.
Conductive layers in electrical circuits include
- Copper (Cu)
- Silver (Ag)
- Gold (Au)
- Platinum (Pt)
- Palladium (Pd)
Barrier metals include, for example
- Molybdenum (Mo)
- Nickel (Ni)
- Nickel vanadium (NiV)
Typical adhesive metals are, for example
- Chrome (Cr)
- Nickel-Chrome (NiCr)
- Titanium (Ti)
- Titanium-Tungsten (TiW)
Transparent electrically conductive coatings
Transparent, electrically conductive coatings are characterized by low electrical sheet resistance and high transmission. Transparent conductive oxide (TCO) coatings and ultra-thin metal films have these properties.
FHR Anlagenbau offers all suitable sputtering methods in the area of contract coating and sample coating for the deposition of these coatings on glass, silicon and film substrates.
Examples of transparent conductive oxides (TCO)
- Indium-tin oxide (ITO)
- Aluminium-doped zinc oxide (AZO)
- Fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO)
- Antimony-doped tin oxide (ATO)
Ultra-thin metal films consist of, for example
- Gold (Au)
- Silver (Ag)
High-resistance coatings (resistors)
The electrical resistance of high-resistance coatings can be adjusted by a making suitable choice from a wide range of materials. It starts at about 10 ohms and up to about 1000 ohms and beyond, into the mega-ohm range.
Coating material in the 10-ohm to 250-ohm range
- Tantalum nitride (TaN)
- Nickel chromium (NiCr)
Coating material up to 1000 ohms
- Silicon chromium (SiCr)
- Silicon chromium oxide (SiCrOx)
Coating material up to 1 mega-ohm
- Doped polysilicon
Electrically insulating layers (dielectrics)
Dielectric materials are characterized by the absence of free charge carriers so they are generally only weakly electrically conductive or not at all.
For this reason, they are well suited as insulators and can often be deposited in thin layers by suitable sputtering techniques (RF, pulsed DC or reactive sputtering).
Most frequently applied electrically insulating layers for example
- Aluminum oxide (Al2O3)
- Silicon dioxide (SiO2)
- Silicon nitride (SiN)
Other dielectric layers
- Metal oxide such as Molybdenum oxide (MoO2)
- Titanium oxide (TiO2)
- Tungsten oxide (WO2)
