Transparent conductive films for
flat panel displays and methods for producing them are disclosed. In general, a method according to the present invention comprises: (1) providing a flexible plastic substrate; (2) depositing a multi-layered conductive metallic film on the flexible plastic substrate by a thin-film deposition technique to form a
composite film, the multi-layered conductive metallic film comprising two
layers of an
alloy selected from the group consisting of
indium cerium oxide (InCeO) and
indium tin oxide (ITO) surrounding a layer of an
alloy of silver,
palladium, and
copper (Ag / Pd / Cu); and (3) collecting the
composite film in continuous rolls. Typically, the thin-film deposition technique is DC magnetron
sputtering. Another aspect of the invention is a
composite film produced by a method according to the present invention. Still another aspect of the invention is a composite film comprising a multilayered film as described above formed on a flexible plastic substrate, wherein the composite film has a combination of properties including:
transmittance of at least 80% throughout the visible region; an electrical resistance of no greater than about 10
Omega / square; a root-mean-square roughness of no greater than about 2.5 nm; and an interlayer adhesion between the multi-layered metallic film and the remainder of the composite film that is sufficiently great to survive a 180° peel adhesion test.