Nd:YVO4 Laser Direct Ablation of Indium Tin Oxide Films Deposited on Glass and Polyethylene Terephthalate Substrates

A Q-switched diode-pumped neodymium-doped yttrium vanadate (Nd:YVO4, lambda = 1064 nm) laser was applied to obtain the indium tin oxide (ITO) patterns on flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate by a direct etching method. After the ITO films were deposited on a soda-lime glass and PET substrate, laser ablations were carried out on the ITO films for various conditions and the laser ablated results on the ITO films were investigated and analyzed considering the effects of substrates on the laser etching. The laser ablated widths on ITO deposited on glass were found to be much narrower than those on ITO deposited on PET substrate, especially, at a higher scanning speed of laser beam such as 1000 mm/s and 2000 mm/s. As the thermal conductivity of glass substrate is about 7.5 times higher than that of PET, more thermal energy would be spread and transferred to lateral direction in the ITO film in case of PET substrate.