Influence of thin-film properties on the reliability of flexible glass

The use of ultra-thin glass (UTG), with thicknesses lower than 200 mm, in microelectronic applications is being currently pushed forward in order to substitute silicon as substrate material or polymers as encapsulation materials in ultra-thin packages or OLED devices. Physical vapor deposition methods (PVD) are often used to realize thin-layers like ITO with electrical functionality and conductivity. The generated intrinsic stresses of the thin-layers can influence the mechanical properties and reliability of multilayer systems. In this study DC magnetron sputtering was used for thin film ITO coatings on different UTG substrates. The correlation between process parameters for layer deposition, electrical properties for the ITO thin-layers and there influences on the mechanical properties are investigated.