Fab-free, High throughput thin Metal Film Fabrication Method Using Reductive Metal Ion Ink Coating for Diverse Plasmonic and Electronic Applications

Metal thin films can be applied to a wide variety of applications due to their excellent thermal and electrical conduction, as well as unique electrical and optical properties. Conventional thin metal film fabrication methods such as sputtering and vacuum evaporation have limitations especially for scalable and high-throughput production due to area constraint, low speed, and high cost. In this study, we propose a simple metal thin film forming method based on facile coating of reductive metallic (Ag) ion-containing ink followed by quick annealing. This method has a simple and strong controllability for the film thickness and surface morphology by controlling ink concentration, coating speed, and annealing condition. In addition, incorporating nanostructures by lithography, nanoimprinting, etc., further makes it possible to apply Ag thin film to more wider applications involving sensors, plasmonics, photonics, and more. For one vivid example, we demonstrate that it is possible to embed nanopatterns using nanoimprinting in the Ag thin film and zinc oxide nanowires can be selectively grown.