Fabrication of electrodes on the aluminum doped zinc oxide thin films using an ultraviolet laser direct-patterning technology

Because transparent conductive oxide (TCO) thin films have more than 80% transmittance in visible spectrum, and high electrical conductivity, the TCO films are widely applied to flat panel displays and solar cells as transparent electrode materials. This study aims to develop a direct patterning technology on ZnO:Al (AZO) thin films by a diode-pumped solid state ultraviolet laser. The electrode patterns with array structures on AZO thin films were generated by a high-speed galvanometric scanning system. The optoelectronic properties of a patterned electrode have strong relation with the laser pulse frequency, the scan speed, and the patterning time. The surface morphology and roughness of patterned electrode were measured by three dimension confocal microscope and field emission scanning electron microscope, respectively. The resistivity of AZO thin films before and after laser patterning was measured by a four point probe instrument. The optical transmittance was recorded by a UV/VIS/NIR spectrophotometer. The experimental results indicated that the edge line width and depth decreased with increasing the scan speed. After the array patterns structure were formed by laser dry etching, the roughness Ra values of patterned area increased from 0.06 μm to 0.16 μm. These transmittances of patterned structure from 400 nm to 800 nm wavelengths averagely reached to 82%. The measured results of electrical conductively revealed that the resistivity gradually increased with increasing the pulse repetition frequency. In addition, surface morphologic examination on the straight lines, corners, and etched regions of patterned films revealed no micro-cracks observed which meant the patterned surface had a better surface quality.