Alberto Piqué

Electrical, optical, and structural properties of indium-tin-oxide thin films for organic light-emitting devices

High-quality indium–tin–oxide (ITO) thin films (200–850 nm) have been grown by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) on glass substrates without a postdeposition annealing treatment. The structural, electrical, and optical properties of these films have been investigated as a function of target composition, substrate deposition temperature, background gas pressure, and film thickness. Films were deposited from various target compositions ranging from 0 to 15 wt % of SnO2 content. The optimum target composition for high conductivity was 5 wt % SnO2+95 wt % In2O3. Films were deposited at substrate temperatures ranging from room temperature to 300 °C in O2 partial pressures ranging from 1 to 100 mTorr. Films were deposited using a KrF excimer laser (248 nm, 30 ns full width at half maximum) at a fluence of 2 J/cm2. For a 150-nm-thick ITO film grown at room temperature in an oxygen pressure of 10 mTorr, the resistivity was 4×10−4 Ω cm and the average transmission in the visible range (400–700 nm) was 85%. For a 170-n...

Transparent conducting aluminum-doped zinc oxide thin films for organic light-emitting devices

Aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films (∼3000 A) with low electrical resistivity and high optical transparency have been grown by pulsed-laser deposition on glass substrates without a postdeposition anneal. Films were deposited at substrate temperatures ranging from room temperature to 400 °C in O2 partial pressures ranging from 0.1 to 50 mTorr. For 3000-A-thick AZO films grown at room temperature in an oxygen pressure of 5 mTorr, the electrical resistivity was 8.7×10−4 Ω cm and the average optical transmittance was 86% in the visible range (400–700 nm). For 3000-A-thick AZO films deposited at 200 °C in 5 mTorr of oxygen, the resistivity was 3.8×10−4 Ω cm and the average optical transmittance in the visible range was 91%. AZO films grown at 200 °C were used as an anode contact for organic light-emitting diodes. The external quantum efficiency measured from these devices was about 0.3% at a current density of 100 A/m2.

Indium tin oxide thin films for organic light-emitting devices

High-quality indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films (150–200 nm) were grown on glass substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) without postdeposition annealing. The electrical, optical, and structural properties of these films were investigated as a function of substrate temperature, oxygen pressure, and film thickness. PLD provides very uniform ITO films with high transparency (⩾85% in 400–700 nm spectrum) and low electrical resistivity (2–4×10−4 Ω cm). The Hall mobility and carrier density for a 170-nm-thick film deposited at 300 °C are 29 cm2/V s and 1.45×1021 cm−3, respectively. Atomic force microscopy measurements of the ITO films indicated that their root-mean-square surface roughness (∼5 A) is superior to that (∼40 A) of commercially available ITO films deposited by sputtering. ITO films grown at room temperature by PLD were used to study the electroluminescence (EL) performance of organic light-emitting devices. The EL performance was comparable to that measured with commercial ITO anodes.

Effect of aluminum doping on zinc oxide thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition for organic light-emitting devices

Transparent conducting aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films have been deposited on glass substrates by pulsed laser deposition. The structural, electrical and optical properties of these films were investigated as a function of Al-doping amount (0–4 wt.%) in the target. Films were deposited at a substrate temperature of 200°C in 0.67 Pa of oxygen pressure. It was observed that 0.8-wt.% of Al is the optimum doping amount in the target to achieve the minimum film resistivity and the maximum film transmission. For the 300-nm thick AZO film deposited using a ZnO target with an Al content of 0.8 wt.%, the electrical resistivity was 3.7×10−4 Ω-cm and the average transmission in the visible range (400–700 nm) was 90%. The AZO films grown by PLD were used as transparent anodes to fabricate organic light-emitting diodes. The device performance was measured and an external quantum efficiency of 0.3% was measured at a current density of 100 A/m2.

Effect of film thickness on the properties of indium tin oxide thin films

Transparent conducting indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films (40–870 nm) were grown by pulsed laser deposition on amorphous substrates and the structural, electrical, and optical properties of these films were investigated. Films were deposited using a KrF excimer laser (248 nm, 30 ns FWHM) at a fluence of 2 J/cm2, at substrate temperature of 300 °C and 10 mTorr of oxygen pressure. For ITO films (30–400 nm thickness) deposited at 300 °C in 10 mTorr of oxygen, a resistivity of 1.8–2.5×10−4 Ω cm was observed and the average transmission in the visible range (400–700 nm) was about 85%–90%. The Hall mobility and carrier density for ITO films (40–870 nm thickness) were observed to be in the range of 24–27 cm2/V s and 8–13×1020 cm−3, respectively. The ITO films have been used as the anode contact in organic light emitting diodes and the effect of ITO film thickness on the device performance has been studied. The optimum thickness of the ITO anode for the maximum device efficiency was observed to be about 60–100 nm....

Growth of organic thin films by the matrix assisted pulsed laser evaporation (MAPLE) technique

Abstract A novel variation of conventional pulsed laser evaporation, known as matrix assisted pulsed laser evaporation, or MAPLE, has been successfully used to deposit highly uniform thin films of a variety of organic materials including a number of polymers. The MAPLE technique is carried out in a vacuum chamber and involves directing a pulsed laser beam (λ=193 or 248 nm; fluence=0.01 to 0.5 J/cm2) onto a frozen target (100–200 K) consisting of a solute polymeric or organic compound dissolved in a solvent matrix. The laser beam evaporates the surface layers of the target, with both solvent and solute molecules being released into the chamber. The volatile solvent is pumped away, whereas the polymer/organic molecules coat the substrate. Thin uniform films ( nm) of various materials, such as functionalized polysiloxanes and carbohydrates, have been deposited on Si(111) and NaCl substrates. The films prepared using this method have been examined by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and electrospray mass spectrometry. Careful control of the processing conditions allowed the complex polymer/organic molecules to be transferred to the substrate as uniform films without any significant chemical modification. Using MAPLE, large or small regions within a substrate can be discretely coated with submonolayer thickness control. The use of MAPLE films for chemical sensor applications has been investigated and the potential of this technique for producing high quality thin films of other organic compounds will be discussed.

The deposition, structure, pattern deposition, and activity of biomaterial thin-films by matrix-assisted pulsed-laser evaporation (MAPLE) and MAPLE direct write

Two techniques, Matrix-Assisted Pulsed-Laser Evaporation (MAPLE) and MAPLE Direct Write (MDW) were developed to deposit biomaterial thin-films. MAPLE involves dissolving or suspending the biomaterial in a volatile solvent, freezing the mixture to create a solid target, and using a low fluence pulsed laser to evaporate the target for deposition of the solute inside a vacuum system. Using simple shadow masks, i.e. lines, dots and arrays, pattern features with length scales as small as 20 μm can be deposited using multiple materials on different types of substrates. MDW uses pulsed laser to directly transfer material from a ribbon to a substrate. Patterns with a spatial resolution of ∼10 μm can be written directly. Biomaterials ranging from polyethylene glycol to eukaryotic cells, i.e. Chinese hamster ovaries, were deposited with no measurable damage to their structures or genotype. Deposits of immobilized horseradish peroxidase, an enzyme, in the form of a polymer composite with a protective coating, i.e. polyurethane, retained their enzymatic functions. A dopamine electrochemical sensor was fabricated by MDW using a natural tissues/graphite composite. These examples and the unique features of MAPLE and MDW for biosensor fabrication have been discussed.

Laser transfer of biomaterials: Matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation (MAPLE) and MAPLE Direct Write

Two techniques for transferring biomaterial using a pulsed laser beam were developed: matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation (MAPLE) and MAPLE direct write (MDW). MAPLE is a large-area vacuum based technique suitable for coatings, i.e., antibiofouling, and MDW is a localized deposition technique capable of fast prototyping of devices, i.e., protein or tissue arrays. Both techniques have demonstrated the capability of transferring large (mol wt>100 kDa) molecules in different forms, e.g., liquid and gel, and preserving their functions. They can deposit patterned films with spatial accuracy and resolution of tens of μm and layering on a variety of substrate materials and geometries. MDW can dispense volumes less than 100 pl, transfer solid tissues, fabricate a complete device, and is computed aided design/computer aided manufacturing compatible. They are noncontact techniques and can be integrated with other sterile processes. These attributes are substantiated by films and arrays of biomaterials, e.g., polymers, enzymes, proteins, eucaryotic cells, and tissue, and a dopamine sensor. These examples, the instrumentation, basic mechanisms, a comparison with other techniques, and future developments are discussed.

Transparent conducting Sb-doped SnO2 thin films grown by pulsed-laser deposition

Antimony-doped tin oxide (SnO2:Sb) thin films (100–480 nm thick) have been deposited by pulsed-laser deposition on glass substrates without a postdeposition anneal. The structural, electrical, and optical properties of these films have been investigated as a function of doping amount, substrate temperature, and oxygen partial pressure during deposition. Films were deposited at temperatures ranging from 25 to 600 °C in O2 partial pressures ranging from 10 to 100 mTorr. The films (300 nm thick) deposited at 300 °C in 45 mTorr of oxygen show electrical resistivities as low as 9.8×10−4 Ω cm, an average visible transmittance of 90%, a refractive index of 1.98 (at 550 nm), and an optical band gap of 4.21 eV.

Generation of mesoscopic patterns of viable Escherichia coli by ambient laser transfer

We have generated mesoscopic patterns of viable Escherichia coli on Si(1 1 1), glass, and nutrient agar plates by using a novel laser-based transfer process termed matrix assisted pulsed laser evaporation direct write (MAPLE DW). We observe no alterations to the E. coli induced by the laser-material interaction or the shear forces during the transfer. Transferred E. coli patterns were observed by optical and electron microscopes, and cell viability was shown through green fluorescent protein (GFP) expression and cell culturing experiments. The transfer mechanism for our approach appears remarkably gentle and suggests that active biomaterials such as proteins, DNA and antibodies could be serially deposited adjacent to viable cells. Furthermore, this technique is a direct write technology and therefore does not involve the use of masks, etching, or other lithographic tools.