Abstract
A flexible and transparent amorphous-indium tin oxide/silver/crystalline-indium tin oxide (a-ITO/Ag/c-ITO) triple-layer structure was prepared as an electrode for capacitive-type touch screen panels (TSPs). A very thin metal film of silver (Ag) was inserted between two ITO layers, and the triple-layer structures were deposited on a colorless polyimide (CPI) substrate by a sputtering method. It was found that the tunable electrical and optical properties of the a-ITO/Ag/c-ITO triple-layer structures were critically affected by the thickness of the inserted Ag layer. The optimized flexible a-ITO/Ag/c-ITO triple-layer structure has low sheet resistance, high optical transmittance, and low surface roughness. In addition, during the 30 000 bending cycles, the resistance change (ΔR) of the flexible a-ITO/Ag/c-ITO triple-layer structure was 4.12%. For environmental reliability, the ΔR values of the flexible a-ITO/Ag/c-ITO triple-layer structure were 2.86% and 0.96% at the environmental temperature of 80 °C-50% and −40 °C, respectively. The above results indicate that the a-ITO/Ag/c-ITO triple-layer structure can be utilized to construct a promising TCO electrode. Finally, flexible and foldable capacitive-type TSPs were fabricated with multiple touch points using the a-ITO/Ag/c-ITO triple-layer electrode.
Highlights
Transparent conducting oxide (TCO) is essential for photosensitive electronic devices such as thin lm solar cells,[1 ] at panel displays,[2] touch screens,[3] and organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs).[4]
We studied the structural, electrical, and optical properties of the Indium tin oxide (ITO)/metal/ITO triple-layer structures, which were sputtered on a colorless polyimide (CPI) substrate
Using a UV-Vis spectrometer, the optical transmittances of the ITO/Ag/ITO triple-layer structures were measured at wavelengths
Summary
Transparent conducting oxide (TCO) is essential for photosensitive electronic devices such as thin lm solar cells,[1 ] at panel displays,[2] touch screens,[3] and organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs).[4]. Amorphous ITO thin lm were widely employed as a exible TCO material in exible optoelectronic devices due to their high conductivity and transparency in the visible spectral range.[16] cracks that form in the brittle amorphous ITO lms have been considered as a critical drawback in exible devices.[17] In addition, crystallized ITO lms showed a higher transmittance and lower resistivity than amorphous lms.[18,19]. We studied the structural, electrical, and optical properties of the ITO/metal/ITO triple-layer structures, which were sputtered on a colorless polyimide (CPI) substrate. We fabricated a exible capacitive-type TSP using the ITO/metal/ITO triple-layer structure. This study can provide a practical solution to the existing problems characterizing exible TCO materials and their TSP application
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