Transparent Conducting Film Fabricated by Metal Mesh Method with Ag and Cu@Ag Mixture Nanoparticle Pastes

• Published in: Metals (Basel ) 2017-05, Vol.7 (5), p.176
• Main Authors: Nam, Hyun, Seo, Duck, Yun, Hyung, Thangavel, Gurunathan, Park, Lee, Nam, Su
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Actuators; Bending stresses; Copper; Cu@Ag composite nanoparticle; Displays; Electrical resistivity; Indium tin oxides; metal mesh; Nanoparticles; Panels; Pastes; screen printing; Sensors; Silver; Stresses; synthesis of core–shell metal nanoparticles; Titanium nitride; Touch; touch screen panel; Transmittance; Wearable technology
• ISSN: 2075-4701; 2075-4701
• DOI: 10.3390/met7050176

Transparent conducting electrode film is highly desirable for application in touch screen panels (TSPs), flexible and wearable displays, sensors, and actuators. A sputtered film of indium tin oxide (ITO) shows high transmittance (90%) at low sheet resistance (50 Ω/cm2). However, ITO films lack mechanical flexibility, especially under bending stress, and have limitation in application to large-area TSPs (over 15 inches) due to the trade-off in high transmittance and low sheet resistance properties. One promising solution is to use metal mesh-type transparent conducting film, especially for touch panel application. In this work, we investigated such inter-related issues as UV imprinting process to make a trench layer pattern, the synthesis of core-shell-type Ag and Cu@Ag composite nanoparticles and their paste formulation, the filling of Ag and Cu@Ag mixture nanoparticle paste to the trench layer, and touch panel fabrication processes.