Effects of sub-picosecond direct laser interference patterning on the optoelectronic properties of fluorine-doped tin oxide thin films

Abstract

Micropatterning of metal oxides is of high interest for structuring electrodes in optoelectronic devices. In this work, the impact of infrared (IR) sub-picosecond Direct Laser Interference Patterning (DLIP) on the...

Optoelectronic performance of Indium Tin Oxide Thin Films structured by Sub-Picosecond Direct Laser Interference Patterning

“…Although equation ( 3) was mainly tested on metals interacting with ultra-short laser pulses, in previous studies also this approximation was applied on FTO thin films, obtaining accurate estimations 38,40,62 . Then, the logarithmic fitting curve yielded, 𝐹 th = 198  10 J cm -2 and 1  = 0.72  0.11 µm.…”

“…~ 3), it can be argued that they are produced as a consequence of three-photon absorption (3PA) process, which is a phenomenon commonly observed on TCO materials when treated with ultra-short laser pulses 40,66 .…”

“…Nevertheless, these works were carried out employing UV laser sources, which tend to have long-term stability issues (especially at 266 nm) and higher costs in terms of laser power (€/W) [34][35][36] . To the best of our knowledge, only a few studies were published in which costeffective and stable IR laser sources were employed to modify the optoelectronic characteristics of TCOs using the DLIP technique [37][38][39][40] . However, to date, no reports have shown ITO films structured by DLIP at that wavelength.…”

Surface Modification of Fluorine‐Doped Tin Oxide Thin Films Using Femtosecond Direct Laser Interference Patterning: A Study of the Optoelectronic Performance

“…Moreover, in recent previous studies, FTO thin films have been structured using DLIP, with infrared laser sources with 12 [ 14 ] and 0.9 ps pulses. [ 15 ] In the case of the 12 ps pulses, an increase of up to 700% of the diffuse transmittance was obtained as a result of the periodic micro‐ and nanostructures, but the electrical resistance deteriorated due to the removal of conductive material as well. Thus, a tradeoff between optical and electrical properties was proposed.…”

“…[6][7][8][9][10] Particularly in FTO, numerous strategies were applied to achieve these goals, for instance, by changing the doping concentration of fluorine, [11] by performing a surface chemical etching, [12] by laser annealing, [13] or by laser ablation. [14,15] In the field of laser ablation, efforts have been carried out to develop different approaches to structure the surface without deteriorating the material's intrinsic properties, which could affect the optoelectronic performance of the device in which it will be employed. Saetang et al [16] structured FTO with an infrared (IR) ns-pulsed laser, generating line-like structures by means of a stream of water between the laser source and the conductive film.…”