SE adjustment of planar mesh screen by fine‐tuning metal thickness

Abstract

The study presents the thickness effect of mesh metal films printed onto glass substrate on the shielding effectiveness (SE) of such transparent screens. Currently, standards in microelectronic technology use a metal film thickness of between ∼100 nm and few micrometres, depending on the available deposition and implementation techniques. This study demonstrates that the thickness of mesh metal films is a key parameter which needs to be adjusted precisely. A theoretical model based on SE, complex impedance and optical transparency has been developed for this purpose. At microwaves, a relevant selection of the metal thickness values from 0.1 to 2 µm changes the SE at low frequency (from 36 to 40 dB at 2 GHz, respectively) while maintaining it constantly at a higher frequency (close to 20 dB at 18 GHz). The optical transparency of such mesh screens is kept constant over the entire visible light spectrum (78%). Experimental data are in complete agreement with the theoretical values.