Performance Evaluation on Light Efficiency of Anti-Reflection Films by a DC Ion Source Sputter System in LCD Applications

In this paper, the structural and optical properties of these prepared films are sputtered by direct current (dc) powers without/with the ion-assisted deposition (IAD) technique. The optimal four-layer structure with anti-reflection (AR) coating films, which grown at 80degC temperature, 15-cm distance between target and substrate, 55-sccm oxygen flow and 1250-W magnetron sputtering power with the IAD technique, is used to study the optical performance. By using atomic force microscope (AFM) to identify the surface of the sputtered Nb₂O₅ films, we found that films' roughness is 0.185 nm. In the glass substrate with SiO₂/Nb₂O₅ multilayer, the peak transmittances measured at visible range are 95.89% and 93.40%, respectively coating with/without the IAD-sputtering technology. These results are better than those that is measured with a bare hardness poly-carbonate (HPC) (91.25%) and improved well above the flexible liquid crystal display (LCD) application standard.