Fabrication and performance improvement of Ag grid transparent conducting films using selective laser ablation

Silver (Ag) grid transparent conducting films (TCFs) were firstly fabricated by selective laser ablation of Ag thin films prepared by radio frequency magnetron sputtering under the conventional scanning method (i.e., line-typed cyclic scanning, LTCS). The effects of grid parameters (i.e., Ag grid height, pitch, and line-width) on TCF morphology, optical transmittance, electrical conductivity, and comprehensive performance were studied. The optimal Ag grid height, pitch, and line-width were determined to be 800 nm, 1.0 mm, and 90 μm, respectively, and the resulting TCF showed a figure of merit of 11.38 × 10 –2 Ω –1 . Subsequently, two new scanning methods, i.e., frame-typed serial scanning (FTSS) and frame-line combined scanning (FLCS), were adopted to further optimize the fabrication process, and thus the TCF comprehensive performance. The results showed that as compared to the LTCS method, the FTSS and FLCS methods could effectively eliminate semicircular-shaped Ag grid line edges, and thus obtain relatively smooth and flat ones without obvious Ag material residues. The Ag grid TCF fabricated by using the FLCS method had the highest figure of merit of 13.02 × 10 –2 Ω –1 , indicating a further improvement in comprehensive performance.