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Fabrication and performance improvement of Ag grid transparent conducting films using selective laser ablation

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Abstract

Silver (Ag) grid transparent conducting films (TCFs) were firstly fabricated by selective laser ablation of Ag thin films prepared by radio frequency magnetron sputtering under the conventional scanning method (i.e., line-typed cyclic scanning, LTCS). The effects of grid parameters (i.e., Ag grid height, pitch, and line-width) on TCF morphology, optical transmittance, electrical conductivity, and comprehensive performance were studied. The optimal Ag grid height, pitch, and line-width were determined to be 800 nm, 1.0 mm, and 90 μm, respectively, and the resulting TCF showed a figure of merit of 11.38 × 10–2 Ω–1. Subsequently, two new scanning methods, i.e., frame-typed serial scanning (FTSS) and frame-line combined scanning (FLCS), were adopted to further optimize the fabrication process, and thus the TCF comprehensive performance. The results showed that as compared to the LTCS method, the FTSS and FLCS methods could effectively eliminate semicircular-shaped Ag grid line edges, and thus obtain relatively smooth and flat ones without obvious Ag material residues. The Ag grid TCF fabricated by using the FLCS method had the highest figure of merit of 13.02 × 10–2 Ω–1, indicating a further improvement in comprehensive performance.

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Funding

This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51805220 and 61405078).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, People’s Republic of China

    Qian Xu, Bao-jia Li, Huang Li & Yong-ying Wang

  2. Institute of Micro-Nano Optoelectronic and Terahertz Technology, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, People’s Republic of China

    Bao-jia Li & Li-jing Huang

  3. School of Mechanical Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, People’s Republic of China

    Li-jing Huang

  4. Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Center for Photon Manufacturing Science and Technology, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, People’s Republic of China

    Qian Xu, Bao-jia Li, Li-jing Huang, Huang Li & Yong-ying Wang

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QX: formal analysis and writing—original draft. BL: conceptualization, writing—review and editing, supervision, and project administration. LH: validation, resources, and funding acquisition. HL: formal analysis and investigation. YW: validation.

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Xu, Q., Li, Bj., Huang, Lj. et al. Fabrication and performance improvement of Ag grid transparent conducting films using selective laser ablation. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 33, 4764–4781 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-021-07666-9

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