Background

Touchscreen panels have nowadays become common displays used for many electronic products such as ATM’s, ticketing machines, home appliances, laptops, tablets, gaming consoles, music players and smart phones. Its unique function is realized by thin layers known as transparent electro-conductive film built into the display which is electrically conductive and optically transparent. Indium tin oxide (ITO) is one of the most widely used transparent electro-conductive materials. Its elemental composition and film thickness are important parameters determining the characteristics of touchscreen panels and therefore the quick, simple and accurate analysis of ITO film is important.  

X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis is an established method for the analysis of thin films for both thickness and elemental composition in various fields such as the semiconductor industry. For this type of analysis, it is necessary to use fundamental parameter (FP) method in order to obtain accurate and precise analysis results since X-ray intensities are influenced by both of concentration and thickness. Rigaku is the pioneer of commercially available X-ray instruments equipped with FP method software and therefore has an advantage for this type of analysis due to extensive experience. This application note demonstrates that Supermini200 with FP method can perform analyses with high precision and easy operation.