In–Zn–Sn–O Ceramic targets: Preparation following the cold sintering process and properties of the materials

It is important to prepare high-performance sputtering ceramic targets to meet the coating-film requirements of industrialized transparent conductive films. The sintering temperature and time required to prepare ITO ceramic targets following traditional methods are generally 1600 °C and 168 h, respectively. The process involves consuming much energy, and a high amount of precious metal (indium) is present in the target. High-density In–Zn–Sn–O (IZTO) ceramic targets were prepared following the cold sintering process using IZTO powders with different ITO contents to reduce the sintering temperature and the content of precious metal indium and shorten the preparation time. The electrical properties of the targets could be improved by two orders of magnitude when annealed at a reducing atmosphere. The experimental results revealed that an IZTO target with a relative density of 93.65% and a resistivity of 6.7 × 10⁻² Ω cm was prepared in the presence of 40 wt% ITO under the condition of cold sintering at 300 °C/1.0 h. The resistivity was as low as 6.0 × 10⁻⁴ Ω cm when annealed at 500 °C/1.0 h in a reducing atmosphere. In this study, a high-performance IZTO ceramic target with low indium content was prepared at a low temperature and within a short time.