31.3: Rapid Laser Patterning of ITO on Glass for Next Generation Plasma Display Panel Manufacture

Abstract

Rapid Laser Patterning (RLP) of ITO on glass offers a cost effective alternative to wet-etch lithography in the manufacture of PDPs. It is demonstrated that RLP can effectively pattern ITO to industrial standards. It is also shown that the process is rapid and has major cost benefits vs. lithography. RLPWet etch Resist Coating Resist Exposure (UV) Resist Wet Etching ITO Wet Etch Resist Stripping Cleaning Laser Direct Write of ITO Rinsing SID 07 DIGEST • 1211

49.3: Mechanism and Advanced Application of Rapid Laser Processing on SnO2 Thin Films for FPD Manufacture

“…By considering the two physical mechanisms, i.e., free carrier collective oscillation and excitation from intermediate levels between conductive and valence bands, we were able to achieve successful processing at low laser energy, i.e., 2 J/cm 2 . This is even lower than the process energy of ITO thin film (2.8 J/cm 2 ) that is currently used in practical PDP manufacturing [5,6]. This result implies that laser processing on SnO 2 thin films can potentially achieve significantly higher speed and low cost in practical manufacturing.…”

“…Laser processing of materials located on the top line partially or completely failed even with 12 J/cm 2 of laser energy. As reference, representative values of ITO and Cr thin film are also shown on the graph [5,6]. Figure 4 shows that materials whose carrier concentration is near λ p could be processed.…”

“…Photolithograny has, however, problems in need of solution such as low productivity and waste chemicals that damage the environment. Therefore, laser processing has been attracting attention as an alternative technique [2,3,5,6]. Most of the previous works consider the processing of Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) thin films because ITO is currently used to make transparent electrode for FPDs.…”

Deposition condition influence on optical properties of indium tin oxide

“…One of the most promising TCOs is indium tin oxide (ITO), which combines high transparency and conductivity. ITO is widely used for fabrication of transparent electrodes of liquid crystal screens [2], organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) [3], touch screens and solar cells [4], as well as for heat [5] and electrostatic protection [6]. One of the mostly exploited ITO structures possesses the form of thin film, which can be fabricated via several techniques, e.g.…”

Patterning electrode for cholesteric liquid crystal display by pulsed laser ablation

“…In general, the two dimensional electrodes of flexible displays are usually manufactured by traditional wet etching process. Conventional lithography is a multi-step wet process, which includes resist coating, resist exposure, resist etching, indium tin oxide (ITO) etching, and resist stripping [2]. However, the liquid crystal layer or dark layer cannot be exposed to organic solvents, so the metal electrode cannot be patterned by the conventional wet etching process.…”