Transparent conductive film and method for producing the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10303284-B2
Application number	US-201514914108-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 28, 2015
Priority date	Apr 30, 2014
Publication date	May 28, 2019
Grant date	May 28, 2019

Abstract

There is provided a transparent conductive film achieving low resistance characteristics of a transparent conductive layer. The present invention provides a transparent conductive film including: a polymer film substrate; and a transparent conductive layer formed on at least one surface of the polymer film substrate by means of a sputtering method using a sputtering gas including argon, wherein an existing atomic amount of argon atoms in the transparent conductive layer is 0.24 atomic % or less; an existing atomic amount of hydrogen atoms in the transparent conductive layer is 13×10 20 atoms/cm 3 or less; and the transparent conductive layer has a specific resistance of 1.1×10 −4 Ω·cm or more and 2.8×10 −4 Ω·cm or less.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A transparent conductive film comprising:
a polymer film substrate; and
a transparent conductive layer formed on at least one surface of the polymer film substrate by a sputtering method using a sputtering gas including argon,
wherein:
an existing atomic amount of argon atoms in the transparent conductive layer is more than 0.05 atomic % and 0.24 atomic % or less;
an existing atomic amount of hydrogen atoms in the transparent conductive layer is more than 0.001×10 20 atoms/cm 3 and 13×10 20 atoms/cm 3 or less; and
the transparent conductive layer has a specific resistance of 1.1×10 −4 Ω·cm or more and 2.8×10 −4 Ω·cm or less.

2. The transparent conductive film according to claim 1 , wherein an existing atomic amount of carbon atoms in the transparent conductive layer is up to 10.5×10 20 atoms/cm 3 .

3. The transparent conductive film according to claim 1 , wherein the transparent conductive layer is an indium-tin composite oxide layer.

4. The transparent conductive film according to claim 1 , wherein the transparent conductive layer is crystalline.

5. The transparent conductive film according to claim 3 , wherein a content of tin oxide in the indium-tin composite oxide layer is 0.5% by weight to 15% by weight based on a total amount of tin oxide and indium oxide.

6. The transparent conductive film according to claim 1 , wherein:
the transparent conductive layer has a structure where a plurality of indium-tin composite oxide layers are laminated; and
at least two layers of the plurality of indium-tin composite oxide layers have existing atomic amounts of tin different from each other.

7. The transparent conductive film according to claim 6 , wherein all of the indium-tin composite oxide layers are crystalline.

8. The transparent conductive film according to claim 6 , wherein:
the transparent conductive layer includes a first indium-tin composite oxide layer and a second indium-tin composite oxide layer in this order from a side of the polymer film substrate;
a content of tin oxide in the first indium-tin composite oxide layer is 6% by weight to 15% by weight based on a total amount of tin oxide and indium oxide in the first indium-tin composite oxide layer; and
a content of tin oxide in the second indium-tin composite oxide layer is 0.5% by weight to 5.5% by weight based on the total amount of tin oxide and indium oxide in the second indium-tin composite oxide layer.

9. The transparent conductive film according to claim 1 , comprising an organic undercoat layer formed by a wet coating method between the polymer film substrate and the transparent conductive layer.

10. The transparent conductive film according to claim 1 , comprising an inorganic undercoat layer formed by means of a vacuum film deposition method between the polymer film substrate and the transparent conductive layer.

11. The transparent conductive film according to claim 1 , comprising:
an organic undercoat layer formed by means of a wet coating method,
an inorganic undercoat layer formed by means of a vacuum film deposition method, and
the transparent conductive layer in this order on at least one surface of the polymer film.

12. A method for producing the transparent conductive film according to claim 1 , the method comprising:
a step A of placing a polymer film substrate under a vacuum condition having an ultimate vacuum degree of 3.5×10 −4 Pa or less; and
a step B of forming a transparent conductive layer on at least one surface of the polymer film substrate by means of a sputtering method with a discharge voltage of 100 V or more and 400 V or less using a sputtering gas including argon.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the sputtering method is an RF superimposed DC sputtering method.

14. The method according to claim 12 , wherein a horizontal magnetic field at a surface of a sputtering target is 20 mT or more and 200 mT or less in the step B.

15. The method according to claim 12 , comprising a step of heating the transparent conductive layer to subject the transparent conductive layer to crystal conversion.

16. The method according to claim 12 , comprising a step of forming, before the step B, an inorganic undercoat layer by means of a vacuum film deposition method on a surface of the polymer film substrate on which the transparent conductive layer is formed.

17. The transparent conductive film according to claim 1 , wherein the existing atomic amount of carbon atoms in the transparent conductive layer is 0.001×10 20 atoms/cm 3 to 10.5×10 20 atoms/cm 3 .

Assignees

• Nitto Denko Corp

Inventors

• Fujino Nozomi
• Nashiki Tomotake
• Kato Daiki
• Machinaga Hironobu
• Sasa Kazuaki
• Ueda Eri
• Matsuda Tomoya

Classifications

• B32B9/00

  Layered products comprising a {layer of a} particular substance not covered by groups B32B11/00 - B32B29/00 · CPC title

• C23C14/35

  by application of a magnetic field, e.g. magnetron sputtering {(C23C14/3457 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• C23C14/024 Primary

  Deposition of sublayers, e.g. to promote adhesion of the coating (C23C14/027 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C23C14/086 Primary

  of zinc, germanium, cadmium, indium, tin, thallium or bismuth · CPC title

• C23C14/564

  Means for minimising impurities in the coating chamber such as dust, moisture, residual gases · CPC title