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Improvement of electrical properties of ITO thin films by melt-free ultra-short laser crystallization

Farid, Nazar ORCID: 0000-0003-0556-6794, Sharif, Ayesha ORCID: 0000-0001-5604-1475, Vijayaraghavan, Rajani K. ORCID: 0000-0003-1096-448X, Wang, M., Chan, H., Brunton, A., McNally, Patrick J. ORCID: 0000-0003-2798-5121, Choy, K.L. and O'Connor, Gerard M. ORCID: 0000-0002-4577-1023 (2021) Improvement of electrical properties of ITO thin films by melt-free ultra-short laser crystallization. Journal Of Physics D-Applied Physics, 54 (18). ISSN 0022-3727

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Abstract

We describe a novel solid state crystallisation method for optimising a thin film transparent conductive oxide when deposited on flexible polymer substrates. The method is based on ultra-short non-thermal laser sintering of indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films. In this study, we used commercial ITO thin films deposited on a flexible polyethylene terephthalate substrate with a relatively low melting temperature compared with ITO on glass. We demonstrate the use of laser scanning with high pulse overlapping at fluences seven times less than the threshold required for melting/damage of ITO. The results confirm greater than four times enhancement in the mobility of charge carriers of ITO thin films after laser scanning and sheet resistance can be reduced up to 25%. There is no reduction in optical transparency observed in laser treated samples. Surface morphology and x-ray diffraction analyses confirm the improvement in crystallite sizes by laser sintering, resulting in a greater than 37% increase in grain size due to enhanced crystallization. Comparison of experimental and simulation based on a delayed two temperature model confirms that ITO thin film crystallization occurred at about one-third of the melting temperature of ITO.

Item Type:Article (Published)
Refereed:Yes
Additional Information:Article Number 185103
Subjects:UNSPECIFIED
DCU Faculties and Centres:DCU Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Engineering and Computing > School of Electronic Engineering
Research Initiatives and Centres > Advanced Processing Technology Research Centre (APTRC)
Publisher:IOP Publishing
Official URL:https://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1361-6463/abe2c6
Copyright Information:© 2021 IOP Publishing
Use License:This item is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. View License
Funders:Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and is co-funded under the European Regional Development Fund under Grant Numbers 12/RC/2276 and 16/RC/3872, GO’C ‘s contribution is also supported by EU INTERREG Project EAPA 384 2016, ‘AtlanticKETMED
ID Code:25683
Deposited On:30 Mar 2021 12:49 by Vidatum Academic . Last Modified 20 May 2022 16:35

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