The electromagnetic shielding effectiveness of indium tin oxide films

Indium tin oxide (ITO) films were deposited on acrylics by low temperature reactive magnetron sputtering. The influence of film thickness on the shielding effectiveness of the films was investigated. The electric conductivity increased with ITO film thickness. This is probably due to the scattering of charge carriers by the external surfaces of thin films which is higher for films with smaller thickness. Results of magnetic moment versus magnetic field suggested that ITO film is basically a non-magnetic material. An increase in reflection loss with film thickness was observed, which was very similar to that observed for the electrical conductivity. The absorption loss was extremely small when compared with the reflection loss and therefore could be neglected when considering the total shielding effectiveness. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd and Techna S.r.l. All rights reserved.