Femtosecond laser ablation of indium tin-oxide narrow grooves for thin film solar cells

    Authors

    Q. M. Bian; X. M. Yu; B. Z. Zhao; Z. H. Chang;S. T. Lei

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Opt. Laser Technol.

    Keywords

    Ablation; Femtosecond laser; Indium tin oxide; DIRECT-WRITE; METALS; ITO; Optics; Physics, Applied

    Abstract

    Finding ways to scribe indium-tin oxide (ITO) coating plays an important role in the fabrication and assembly of thin film solar cells. Using a femtosecond (fs) laser, we selectively removed the ITO thin films with thickness 120-160 nm on glass substrates. In particular, we studied the effect of laser pulse duration, laser fluence and laser scanning speed on the ablation of ITO. The single pulse ablation thresholds at various pulse durations were determined to ablate ITO thin films. Clean removal of the ITO layer was observed when the laser fluence was above the threshold of 0.30 J/cm(2). Furthermore, the morphologies and microstructure of fabricated grooves were characterized using a scanning electron microscope and KLA Tencor P-16 Profiler. A groove width down to 3 mu m with 10 nm groove ridge can be achieved by the ablation of femtosecond laser pulses with 220 nJ of energy. The femtosecond laser therefore provides a unique scheme to ablate the indium tin-oxide layer for the fabrication of thin film solar cells. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

    Journal Title

    Optics and Laser Technology

    Volume

    45

    Publication Date

    1-1-2013

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    395

    Last Page

    401

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000310401800059

    ISSN

    0030-3992

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