The importance of ITO slides
ITO in microscope slides has become increasingly important, with its use in electron microscopy almost a requirement. But what is ITO? ITO stands for Indium Tin Oxide, which is a clear substance that can be applied to substrates such as glass and more recently plastic. What makes ITO interesting though, is it is electrically conductive.
That’s right, glass can actually become electrically conductive!
For microscopy – or more specific, electron microscopy, ITO slides have become a real game changer. The days of having to run a charge through a specimen are gone, with an ITO slide, there is simply no need.
There was a study that examined that growing cells on ITO slides provided secondary electron and backscatter electron images without the need to charge the specimen. It was also stated that “detailed features of actin cytoskeletal and mitochondrial structures in mouse embryonic fibroblasts” were revealed.
That’s pretty impressive!
ITO Slides from Diamond Coatings
Diamond Coatings have become a trusted supplier of ITO slides to research and development facilities as well as universities worldwide. Diamond Coatings are an industry leading supplier of ITO coatings in many differing applications
The most common ITO slide produced uses soda lime glass as it is relatively cost effective and can also be thermally or chemically strengthened, as well as cut to specific sizes on request.
(It gets better…)
Diamond Coatings can also provide the ITO slides with a silicon oxide barrier which increases the slides performance over its lifetime by preventing the diffusion of Sodium ions into the ITO layer.
We have a range of sizes and grades available offering high levels of transmittance in various dimensions, thickness and resistances. Diamond Coatings also supply on request slides up to a maximum size of 400 x 500mm.
You can purchase our standard ITO slides directly from our website. To support our range of ITO conductive glass slides, we also supply ITO coated coverslips.
For more information or for any specific order requests, please get in touch with us. A member of our technical team will respond as soon as possible.
