ALD Deposited ZnO:Al Films on Mica for Flexible PDLC Devices.

Dimitre Z Dimitrov,Shiuan Huei Lin,Chih Yao Ho,Jenh-Yih Juang,Dimitrina Petrova,Zih Fan Chen,Blagovest Napoleonov,Ken Yuh Hsu,Blagoy Blagoev,Vera Marinova,Velichka Strijkova

doi:10.3390/nano11041011

Abstract

In this work, highly conductive Al-doped ZnO (AZO) films are deposited on transparent and flexible muscovite mica substrates by using the atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique. AZO-mica structures possess high optical transmittance at visible and near-infrared spectral range and retain low electric resistivity, even after continuous bending of up to 800 cycles. Structure performances after bending tests have been supported by atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis. Based on performed optical and electrical characterizations AZO films on mica are implemented as transparent conductive electrodes in flexible polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) devices. The measured electro-optical characteristics and response time of the proposed devices reveal the higher potential of AZO-mica for future ITO-free flexible optoelectronic applications.

Highlights

Díez-PascualRecent technological appeal for flexible, lightweight, inexpensive, enabling low-power consumption, and environmentally-friendly optoelectronics has stimulated intensive research on new generation optoelectronic devices
Flexible transparent electrodes attracted extreme attention in numerous applications to mention among others touch screens, flat panel displays, organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), flexible sensors, solar cells, electronic skins, etc. [1,2,3]
The observation of only Al-doped ZnO (AZO) (100) diffraction peaks on muscovite mica substrate suggests that AZO is growing on mica with preferable orientation

Summary

Introduction

Recent technological appeal for flexible, lightweight, inexpensive, enabling low-power consumption, and environmentally-friendly optoelectronics has stimulated intensive research on new generation optoelectronic devices. In this aspect, flexible transparent electrodes attracted extreme attention in numerous applications to mention among others touch screens, flat panel displays, organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), flexible sensors, solar cells, electronic skins, etc. The wide band-gap semiconductor zinc oxide possesses plentiful of useful properties that have attracted increasing attention in copious fields of research. The high transparency in visible spectra of ZnO combined with its tunable electrical conductivity enables its use in applications ranging from thin film transistors (TFTs) to functional layers in photovoltaics

Methods

Results

Conclusion