Comparing ITO, FTO and AZO Films as Transparent Conductive Oxides (TCOs)

Posted by MSE Supplies Admin on Jan 25, 2021

Transparent conductive oxides (TCO) are doped metal oxides used in optoelectronic devices such as flat panel displays, photovoltaics (including inorganic solar cells, organic solar cells, and dye-sensitized solar cells), and as thin film electrodes in sensors.

Sputtering-coated ITO (indium tin oxide), FTO (fluorine doped tin oxide) or AZO (aluminum-doped zinc oxide) films on glass or other substrates are typical transparent conductive oxides (TCO) substrates with ITO being the most commonly used.

ITO coated glass can only be heated to 350 deg. Celsius, while FTO coated glass can be exposed to up to 600 deg. Celsius. High quality NSG TEC7, TEC8 and TEC15 FTO glass substrates are available at MSE Supplies, which is a leading supplier of ITO, FTO and AZO glass substrates with more than 2,000 customers worldwide.

Typically, ITO has better conductivity than AZO, which means that ITO film is more conductive than AZO for a given thickness.

AZO has advantages over ITO, including lower cost, greater abundance, high thermal stability, layer flexibility and lack of toxicity. While ITO contains indium, which is expensive, AZO is composed of aluminum and zinc, two common and inexpensive materials.

MSE Supplies is a U.S.-based leading global supplier of high quality ITO, FTO and AZO substrates. Customized sizes and etched patterns on these substrates are available upon request.

MSE Supplies also offers sputtering targets such as ITO sputtering targets, FTO sputtering targets, and AZO sputtering targets.