Vesuvius Crucible Company

Jerald L Bliton

Gilbert Rancoule

The invention encompasses a method for manufacturing a high density indium oxide/tin oxide (ITO) sintered body, as well as the ITO sintered body itself. The method produces an ITO sintered body of high homogeneity for use as a sputtering target in manufacturing processes where thin, transparent and electrically conductive ITO layers are deposited over transparent substrates. The method comprises the steps of preparing a slurry whose solid constituents consist of a finely divided mixture of between 99 and 50 weight percent of In.sub.2 O.sub.3 and 1 to 50 weight percent of SnO.sub.2, and between about 0.05 through 0.25 percent of a sintering agent formed from an oxide of, only one of the group consisting of aluminum, magnesium, yttrium, and silicon; forming the resulting slurry into a green body having a density of between about 4.0 and 4.8 gm/c.sup.3 and heating the green body to a sintering temperature of between about 1500 and 1600 C. while maintaining a flow of oxygen over the green body sufficient to avoid the creation of a reducing atmosphere around the body, but insufficient to cause substantial disassociation of the In.sub.2 O.sub.3 and SnO.sub.2 . The green body may be formed by casting the resulting slurry or by adding a powdered binder to the slurry, spray drying it, and cold pressing the resulting powder.

Growing community of inventors

Beaver Falls, PA, United States of America

Jerald L Bliton