Abstract
The possibility to directly pattern indium–tin–oxide
(ITO) layers at ambient conditions by printing has many benefits. Printing,
being an additive process, would greatly reduce the amount of energy, labor
and material used by the current manufacturing processes to deposit and pattern
ITO. In this work, gravure printability of ITO nanoparticles on polyethylene
terephthalate (PET) was studied. A wide range of sheet resistivites and film
thicknesses was obtained by varying the specifications of the gravure cells.
From the regression analysis of the results, a good estimation of sheet resistivity
of the printed films at different gravure cell volumes and aspect ratios (AR)
was achieved. The films also showed transparency above 95% in the visible
light region. In addition, printed ITO films were assessed for mechanical
flexibility and the results compared to commercially available sputtered ITO
films on PET. The electrical performance of printed ITO layers was not deteriorated
with bending in contrast to the sputtered films. Therefore, printed ITO films
can be of great benefit for applications in flexible electronics such as organic
photovoltaics (OPV), liquid crystal displays (LCD), organic light-emitting
diodes (OLED), touch screens, biosensors and utilization in the field of energy
efficiency, especially in buildings.
© 2012 IEEE
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