4.7 Article

Structural and mechanical properties of pre-strained transparent conducting oxide films on flexible substrate

Journal

SURFACE & COATINGS TECHNOLOGY
Volume 231, Issue -, Pages 443-446

Publisher

ELSEVIER SCIENCE SA
DOI: 10.1016/j.surfcoat.2012.04.046

Keywords

Aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO); Indium tin oxide (ITO); Polyethylene terephthalate (PET); Sputtering; Pre-strain; Nanoindentation

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Among popular transparent conducting oxide (TCO) materials, indium tin oxide (ITO) and aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) are expected to be the most applicable for the TCO layer of solar cells due to their resistance to a reductive ambient and their transparency to infrared wavelengths. In this study, ITO and AZO are deposited by a sputtering system with various pre-strain forces applied to the substrate. According to the X-ray diffraction results, the intensities of the characteristic peaks for ITO and AZO films decrease at a certain pre-strain ratio. Decreases for ITO and AZO films occur at pre-strain levels of 2% and 4%, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy images show that some fissures and cracks appear for the 2%-ITO film. The mechanical properties and the interface adhesion energy between the films and the substrates are investigated using a nanoindentation system. The results demonstrate that the hardness and elastic modulus of ITO and AZO thin films reach a critical point at pre-strain levels of 2% and 4%, respectively. When the pre-strain level is over 4%, cracks appear in the ITO thin film. Crown Copyright (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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