We examined the damage to organic materials during sputtering of electrode films by measuring the degradation of photoluminescence (PL) intensities of organic light-emitting materials. BAlq as a small molecule material was employed as the light-emitting material. Ar ions with energy up to 200 eV were irradiated on light-emitting material films. The bombardment of Ar ions with energy >100 eV significantly damaged the organic films, while that with energy <20 eV lead to less damage. We propose a two-step sputter-FTS deposition technique that can reduce the total time required to deposit an ITO electrode film without increasing damage. This deposition technique was confirmed to be effective for reducing the damages to the organic film during the deposition of the ITO electrode film. (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V.