| AVS 58th Annual International Symposium and Exhibition | |
| Transparent Conductors and Printable Electronics Focus Topic | Thursday Sessions |
| Session TC+AS+EM-ThM |
| Session: | Transparent / Printable Electronics Part 1 |
| Presenter: | Salil Joshi, Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Authors: | S.M. Joshi, Georgia Institute of Technology G.W. Book, Georgia Institute of Technology R.A. Gerhardt, Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Colloidal ITO based inks may be an attractive route to direct writing transparent circuits and also be useful for the fabrication of transparent conductive ITO films on complex shaped substrates. The presence of stabilizing ligands and minimal contact between the ITO nanoparticles in the deposited films can be a challenge in obtaining the optimum electrical properties. This study investigates the effect of plasma treatment and annealing on the electrical properties of colloidal ITO films. Crystalline colloidal ITO nanoparticles were synthesized in-house by a non-aqueous technique. The solutions were spin coated onto glass and quartz substrates and their electrical and optical properties were evaluated. All films were found to be completely transparent, while the as-deposited films had resistivities more than 108 ohm-cm. Plasma treatments were shown to be effective in removing residual organics in the films, and even without annealing, some recipes were able to reduce the film resistivity by more than four orders of magnitude. Plasma treatments, when done in combination with annealing, resulted in films with resistivities less than 1 ohm-cm.