Nanostructured ITO/SiO$_{2}$ coatings

The influence of a SiO$_2$ layer deposited onto nanostructured transparent conductive films of indium and tin oxide (ITO) on their optical characteristics is investigated. For this purpose, SiO$_2$ films of various thicknesses are deposited by magnetron sputtering on samples with ITO films containing whiskers of preferentially vertical orientation and possessing steadily decreasing reflectance. It is shown that this makes it possible to attain noticeable coating antireflection under the condition of the uniform overgrowth of ITO whiskers by the SiO$_2$ layer. The influence of the SiO$_2$ layer on the optical characteristics of a dense unstructured ITO film is also investigated. The results for structured and unstructured ITO/SiO$_{2}$ coatings with identical material mass contents are compared. It is noted that due to the liability of ITO material to degradation during operation in the composition of transparent conductive contacts, the results can also be interesting for the formation of coatings more resistant to the effect of the environment.