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The development of an inspection system for indium tin oxide circuits

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2012 Meas. Sci. Technol. 23 085902

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IOP PUBLISHING MEASUREMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Meas. Sci. Technol. 23 (2012) 085902 (7pp) doi:10.1088/0957-0233/23/8/085902

The development of an inspection system

for indium tin oxide circuits
Chih-Hsiang Chan 1 , Yong-Tong Zou 2 , Ting-Kun Liu 2 , Hau-Wei Wang 2
and Shih-Chieh Lin 1,3
1
Department of Power Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan,
Republic of China
2
Center for Measurement Standards, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu, Taiwan,
Republic of China
E-mail: sclin@pme.nthu.edu.tw

Received 21 March 2012, in final form 26 April 2012

Published 28 May 2012
Online at stacks.iop.org/MST/23/085902

Abstract
In this study, an inspection system for indium tin oxide (ITO) circuits has been developed. In
the developed system, a polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC)/ITO film is used as a
sensing device to locate faulty shut/open circuits. The examined object and the PDLC/ITO
film are both linked to an external power source to form an electric field. With the power on,
the crystals line up, re-orientate themselves and the film covering the conducting area turns
clear while the liquid crystals covering the non-conducting area are randomly scattered and
diffuse light in all directions. The voltage range of the power source required to change the
state of the PDLC film was estimated theoretically. Simulations were conducted to study the
effects of the external power on the performance of the developed system. The results were
then verified experimentally. It was shown that the developed system is a feasible system for
ITO circuit inspection.
Keywords: transparent conductive oxide (TCO) film, polymer dispersed liquid crystal
(PDLC), transparent circuit
(Some figures may appear in colour only in the online journal)

1. Introduction There are various ways to pattern ITO films, such as

Transparent conductive oxide (TCO) films with high light
transmittance and stable electrical conduction property are
frequently used as the conductive material in transparent
circuits. In general, the electrical resistance of a transparent
conductive material should be less than 10−3  cm and the
light transmittance should exceed 80%. Although indium tin
oxide (ITO) is a relatively expensive material, its conduction
and transmittance properties are superior to those of other
transparent conductive materials and thus it has become the
most popular transparent conductive material used [1–4].
Nowadays, ITO is a common conductive material used in
liquid crystal display (LCD), organic light emitting diode,
touch panel and solar thin-film cells [5]. Most importantly,
the inspection of ITO circuits is highly critical.
3 Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed.
wet-etching [6, 7], plasma etching [8] and laser ablation
[9–11]. However, un-etched ITO remnants are frequently
found, especially in the wet-etching process [12]. These
remnants and other defects may affect the function of the
device. For this reason, there is a need to develop an inspection
system to locate defects and thus the related processes and
productivity can be further improved.
Many approaches have been adopted to inspect ITO.
For example, a probe testing method such as atomic force
microscopy (AFM) provides the profile data by scanning
the surface of the ITO patterns [13, 14]. Scanning electron
microscopy (SEM) [15, 16], differential interference contrast
(DIC) technology [17] and optical coherence tomography
(OCT) [18] have also been adopted to examine the profile
of the TCO pattern. However, these studies mainly focus on
the structure or morphology of the test sample instead of
identifying the defects of the circuits.

0957-0233/12/085902+07$33.00 1 © 2012 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK & the USA
Meas. Sci. Technol. 23 (2012) 085902 C-H Chan et al

Figure 2. Schematic diagram of the sensing device in the inspection

system.

be used to differentiate the conducting area from the non-

conducting area.
In general, the electric displacement field [30] is
defined by
D = εE, (1)
Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the inspection system (transmitted
type). where D denotes the electric induction vector and is also known
as the electric displacement vector or electric flux density,
Polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) has been used E is the vector function of electric field strength and ε is the
to detect defective pixels in LCDs and was proved feasible dielectric constant of the medium.
[19, 20]. In this paper, the PDLC/ITO film is used as The electric field strength between two parallel plates,
the sensing device for ITO circuit inspection. The working E, can be determined by
principles for the developed system are briefly reviewed first.
Through these theories, the proper ranges of external power E = V/d, (2)
required to power on the device are determined and then
experimentally verified. The effects of the external power where V is the applied voltage and d is the distance between
on the performance of the developed system are also studied the two plates.
through simulation and then confirmed experimentally. In the Therefore, the relationship between the voltage of external
end, discussions and conclusions are made based on these power applied and the induced electric field over each layer
results. can be written as
V = Egap dgap + EPET dPET + EPDLC dPDLC , (3)
2. Fundamental theories and simulations
or
In PDLC composites, liquid crystal (LC) is dispersed in an D D D
isotropic polymer matrix in the form of micrometric droplets. V = dgap + dPET + dPDLC . (4)
εgap εPET εPDLC
Thin films of PDLC have a semi-transparent appearance due
to the light scattering generated by the mismatch between the Thus, the induced electric field over the PDLC layer can
refractive index of the LC droplets and that of the polymer be estimated by the following equation:
matrix [27, 28]. When an ac field is applied to the film, its D V
EPDLC = = . (5)
LC molecules change their direction resulting in variations of εPDLC dgap εεPDLC
gap
+ dPET εεPDLC
PET
+ dPDLC
the optical characteristics [29]. They are frequently adopted
in several applications such as smart windows [21], displays In our setup, the dielectric constant ε for the gap, PDLC
[22, 23], laser beam manipulation and steering [24, 25], and layer and PET layer is 1, 21.5 and 3.4, respectively. The
optical shutter/switch [26]. With this characteristic, the PDLC thickness of the gap is assumed to be 0 μm; the thickness of
film is adopted to develop an inspection device for an ITO the PDLC layer and PET layer is 20 and 10 μm, respectively.
circuit in our study. Last but not least the relationship between the voltage of the
A schematic diagram of the inspection system developed external power and the potential voltage over the PDLC layer
is shown in figure 1. Figure 2 shows the schematic diagram (VPDLC) can be expressed as
of the sensing device used in the system. This sensing device  
dPET εPDLC
is a composite of a PDLC layer, an ITO layer, a PET layer V = VPDLC · 1 + . (6)
and a PET substrate. The ITO layer in the sensing device dPDLC εPET
and the examined transparent circuit are both linked to an A series of simulations were conducted to study the
external power source to induce an electric field. With the effects of system parameters on the performance of the
power on, the PDLC covering the conducting area will be transparent circuit inspection system developed in our institute.
in clear state, while the PDLC covering the non-conducting A commercial software package, Ansoft Maxwell, was used
area will remain in translucent state. Therefore, this setup can for simulation.

2
Meas. Sci. Technol. 23 (2012) 085902
Figure 3. A photograph of the setup using PDLC as the electro-optical sensor (left: with no external voltage applied; right: with an external
voltage of 150 V applied).
Figure 4. The effects of external voltage on the light transmission
ratio of the PDLC layer.
3. Experimental setup and test results
A preliminary test is conducted first to confirm the proper
range of the external power required to power on the PDLC
film for the system. In the preliminary test, an ITO film
is used as the examined object. According to the data
provided by the supplier, the induced electric potential over
the PDLC layer should be over 30 V to reach a high light
transmission ratio. Furthermore, the corresponding voltage for
the external power estimated by equation (6) is around 130 V.
3
C-H Chan et al
Figure 5. A photograph of the test sample (a line width of 1 mm for
the non-conducting area).
Figure 3 demonstrates that the PDLC layer was changed from
translucent state to clear state as an external voltage of 150 V
was applied.
The effects of the external voltage on the light
transmission ratio were estimated experimentally by
comparing the gray levels of the image taken by a CCD camera
when different external voltages were applied. The test results
Meas. Sci. Technol. 23 (2012) 085902
(a)
(b)
Figure 6. Typical test results. (a) Line width: 1 mm. (b) Line width:
100 μm.
Figure 7. Effects of the line width of the non-conducting area on the
transmission ratio (simulation, applied voltage = 150 V).
as well as the corresponding electric potential over the PDLC
layer are shown in figure 4. It is shown that the transmission
4
C-H Chan et al
(a)
(b)
Figure 8. Effects of the line width of the non-conducting area on the
transmission ratio: (a) simulation, applied voltage = 90 V; (b)
simulation, applied voltage = 60 V.
ratio is around 20% when the power is off while it is around
75% when the induced electric potential over the PDLC layer
is over 20 V.
3.1. Performance test
In order to study the performance of the developed system,
an ITO film with laser scribed non-conducting line widths of
1 mm and 100 μm was used as a test sample. Figure 5 shows the
photograph of the test sample with the line width of 1 mm. In
theory, the induced electric potential over the non-conducting
areas will be so low that the PDLC layer covering this area
will be in translucent state.
In these tests, the effects of the external voltage on
the performance of the developed system were studied.
Figures 6(a) and (b) show two typical test results. As shown in
the figure, the width of the dark area roughly matches the width
of the non-conductive lines. However, in the observation state,
there are small air bubbles over the non-etched areas. This may
be improved by the preparation work.
Meas. Sci. Technol. 23 (2012) 085902 C-H Chan et al

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

Figure 9. Effects of the external power on the performance of the setup: (a) simulation results (1 mm); (b) simulation results (100 μm);
(c) test results (1 mm); (d) test results (100 μm).

Table 1. A comparison of the approaches adopted to inspect ITO.

AFM [13, 14] SEM/TEM [15, 16] DIC/OCT [17, 18] Electrical probe/tip Developed system

Major function Structure/morphology Structure/morphology Profile Shut/open Defective circuit

scanning scanning measurement circuit detecting detecting
Manipulation Complex Complex Easy Easy Easy
Setup time Long Long Short Short Short
Process Line scan Area Area Point to point Area
Cost High High Low Low Low

Further simulations were conducted to identify the
limitation of the developed system on the discrimination of
the non-conducting area. The simulation results are shown in
figure 7. It was indicated that the lowest light transmission
ratio over the non-conducting areas will be increased from
21% to 37%, 58% and 72% with a line width of 50, 40 and
30 μm, respectively. Since the light transmission ratio over
the conducting areas is around 75%, it would become difficult
to identify a non-conducting area with a line width of 30 μm
with an external voltage of 150 V applied.
Further simulations were conducted to study the effects of
the external power on the limitation of the developed system.
The results are shown in figure 8, where there are several
interesting phenomena observed. It was shown that a decrease
in external power can slightly improve the capability of the
developed system in identifying a narrow non-conducting
area. For the cases simulated, it is difficult to identify a non-
conducting area with a line width of 30 μm when an external
voltage of 150 V is applied while it becomes possible to
identify a non-conducting area with a line width of 20 μm
when an external voltage of 60 V is applied. However, the
image contrast between the conducting and non-conducting
areas will be reduced. In addition, it will become more difficult
to identify the edge and hence the width of area than before.
Figure 9 shows the effects of the external power on the
performance of the setup experimentally and theoretically. In
this test, a CCD camera with a resolution of 610 pixels per
millimeter was used. As shown in these figures, the width of
the translucent state of the PDLC layer is slightly decreased
when higher external power is applied. It is expected that if
the line width of the non-conducting area is smaller, it might
become difficult to detect the non-conducting area, especially
when higher external power is applied.

5
Meas. Sci. Technol. 23 (2012) 085902
4. Discussions and conclusions
In this study, an inspection system for ITO circuits has been
developed. In the developed system, a PDLC/ITO film is used
as a sensing device to locate faulty shut/open circuits. Both
the inspected object and the PDLC/ITO film are linked to an
external power source to form an electric field. The electric
field will affect the optical behavior of the LC (the electro-
optical effect), which can be used to inspect the transparent
circuit. In the preliminary test, the applied external voltage
required for inducing an electric potential over the PDLC
and hence altering the optical properties of the PDLC was
determined theoretically and confirmed experimentally.
In the performance test, laser scribed ITO films were used
as the test samples. The test results showed that the system is
feasible for testing transparent circuits when the proper voltage
is applied. Simulation studies were also conducted to study the
limitations of the developed system where several interesting
phenomena were observed. For the cases simulated, it would
be difficult to identify a non-conducting area around 30 μm
in width with an external voltage of 150 V applied while the
developed system might be able to identify a non-conducting
area around 20 μm in width with an external voltage of 60 V
applied. It was shown that the decrease in external power
can slightly improve the capability of the developed system in
identifying a narrow non-conducting area. However, the image
contrast between the conducting and non-conducting areas will
be reduced. In addition, it will become more difficult to identify
the edge and hence the width of area than before.
Comparing with the approaches adopted to inspect ITO
[13–18], the developed system can be used to detect defective
circuits through direct imaging while most approaches were
more focused on depicting the structure or morphology of
the test sample and then could only detect defective circuits
indirectly. A summary for the comparison is shown in table 1.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank National Science Council, Taiwan,
ROC, for their financial support (98-2221-E-007-115) and
the Center for Measurement Standards, Industrial Technology
Research Institute for providing the experimental setup,
specimen and technical assistance and financial support as
well.
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