Non-thermal selective patterning of ITO thin film by 10 ps laser

Summary form only given. Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) is a highly conductive and transparent thin film used in modern technological applications; i.e organic light emitting devices (OLED) [1], transparent flat touch panel displays (FPD) [2], and solar cells [3]. Fast and highly precise selective patterning of ITO with controlled depth and width of scribed lines, is required for such applications. The pattering for such applications demands high precision for low visibility of scribed edges, good electrical isolation, without the presence of residual conductive ablated particles and damage-free substrate surfaces to maximise the mechanical integrity of the device. In this work, we report fast selective and clean removal 175 nm ITO thin film with multi pulses of 10 ps IR laser. Ablation parameters are optimized to obtain partial ablation down to 20 nm precision and complete removal of ITO. The scribed region is analysed using AFM, SEM, and optical microscope to evaluate the quality of scribed edges, depth, topography, and particle generation.