A new reactive sputtering technique for the low temperature deposition of transparent light emitting ZnS:Mn thin films

The temperature sensitive nature of the substrates used in the flexible displays market necessitates a low temperature deposition technique for processing them. ZnS:Mn exhibiting high intensity photoluminescence (PL) and good crystallinity has been deposited onto Si wafers, glass microscope slides and polymeric substrates using a new reactive sputtering technology referred to as HiTUS. This technique enables very high deposition rates and requires no substrate heating. When incorporated as part of a complete EL device, as‐deposited ZnS:Mn films are seen to exhibit stable electroluminescence on Si, glass and planarised PET substrate materials. Post annealing of the devices on Si and glass at temperatures of up to 600 °C show that the HiTUS films perform better than equivalent ZnS:Mn films deposited using RF magnetron sputtering.