TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of insertion of ag mid-layers on laser direct ablation of transparent conductive ito/ag/ito multilayers
T2 - Role of effective absorption and focusing of photothermal energy
AU - Choi, Younggon
AU - Kim, Hong Seok
AU - Lee, Haunmin
AU - Choi, Wonjoon
AU - Kwon, Sang Jik
AU - Han, Jae Hee
AU - Cho, Eou Sik
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded and conducted under “the Competency Development Program for Industry Specialists” of the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE), operated by Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT). (no. P0012453, Next-generation Display Expert Training Project for Innovation Process and Equipment, Materials Engineers). This work was also supported by the Gachon University research fund of 2019 (GCU–2019–0764).
Funding Information:
Funding: This research was funded and conducted under “the Competency Development Program for Industry Specialists” of the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE), operated by Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT). (no. P0012453, Next-generation Display Expert Training Project for Innovation Process and Equipment, Materials Engineers). This work was also supported by the Gachon University research fund of 2019 (GCU–2019–0764).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/9
Y1 - 2021/9
N2 - From the viewpoint of the device performance, the fabrication and patterning of oxide– metal–oxide (OMO) multilayers (MLs) as transparent conductive oxide electrodes with a high figure of merit have been extensively investigated for diverse optoelectronic and energy device applications, although the issues of their general concerns about possible shortcomings, such as a more complicated fabrication process with increasing cost, still remain. However, the underlying mechanism by which a thin metal mid-layer affects the overall performance of prepatterned OMO ML electrodes has not been fully elucidated. In this study, indium tin oxide (ITO)/silver (Ag)/ITO MLs are fabricated using an in-line sputtering method for different Ag thicknesses on glass substrates. Subsequently, a Q-switched diode-pumped neodymium-doped yttrium vanadate (Nd:YVO4, λ = 1064 nm) laser is employed for the direct ablation of the ITO/Ag/ITO ML films to pattern ITO/Ag/ITO ML electrodes. Analysis of the laser-patterned results indicate that the ITO/Ag/ITO ML films exhibit wider ablation widths and lower ablation thresholds than ITO single layer (SL) films. However, the dependence of Ag thickness on the laser patterning results of the ITO/Ag/ITO MLs is not observed, despite the difference in their absorption coefficients. The results show that the laser direct patterning of ITO/Ag/ITO MLs is primarily affected by rapid thermal heating, melting, and vaporization of the inserted Ag mid-layer, which has considerably higher thermal conductivity and absorption coefficients than the ITO layers. Simulation reveals the importance of the Ag mid-layer in the effective absorption and focusing of photothermal energy, thereby supporting the experimental observations. The laser-patterned ITO/Ag/ITO ML electrodes indicate a comparable optical transmittance, a higher electrical current density, and a lower resistance compared with the ITO SL electrode.
AB - From the viewpoint of the device performance, the fabrication and patterning of oxide– metal–oxide (OMO) multilayers (MLs) as transparent conductive oxide electrodes with a high figure of merit have been extensively investigated for diverse optoelectronic and energy device applications, although the issues of their general concerns about possible shortcomings, such as a more complicated fabrication process with increasing cost, still remain. However, the underlying mechanism by which a thin metal mid-layer affects the overall performance of prepatterned OMO ML electrodes has not been fully elucidated. In this study, indium tin oxide (ITO)/silver (Ag)/ITO MLs are fabricated using an in-line sputtering method for different Ag thicknesses on glass substrates. Subsequently, a Q-switched diode-pumped neodymium-doped yttrium vanadate (Nd:YVO4, λ = 1064 nm) laser is employed for the direct ablation of the ITO/Ag/ITO ML films to pattern ITO/Ag/ITO ML electrodes. Analysis of the laser-patterned results indicate that the ITO/Ag/ITO ML films exhibit wider ablation widths and lower ablation thresholds than ITO single layer (SL) films. However, the dependence of Ag thickness on the laser patterning results of the ITO/Ag/ITO MLs is not observed, despite the difference in their absorption coefficients. The results show that the laser direct patterning of ITO/Ag/ITO MLs is primarily affected by rapid thermal heating, melting, and vaporization of the inserted Ag mid-layer, which has considerably higher thermal conductivity and absorption coefficients than the ITO layers. Simulation reveals the importance of the Ag mid-layer in the effective absorption and focusing of photothermal energy, thereby supporting the experimental observations. The laser-patterned ITO/Ag/ITO ML electrodes indicate a comparable optical transmittance, a higher electrical current density, and a lower resistance compared with the ITO SL electrode.
KW - ITO/Ag/ITO multilayer
KW - Laser direct ablation
KW - Nd:YVO laser
KW - Photothermal energy
KW - Thermal conductivity
KW - Transparent conductive oxide electrode
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85114620620&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/ma14185136
DO - 10.3390/ma14185136
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85114620620
SN - 1996-1944
VL - 14
JO - Materials
JF - Materials
IS - 18
M1 - 5136
ER -