Laser melting of nanoparticulate transparent conductive oxide thin films

Layers of ZnO nanoparticles with thicknesses of about 40 nm were prepared on silicon sub-strates. The layers were irradiated by single pulses of a 248 nm excimer laser, which proofed suita-ble for consolidation and significant densification of the particle layers under ambient conditions. Experiments as well as simulations have confirmed that the application of a SiO2 particle layer be-tween the substrate and the ZnO particle layer can be used to hamper heat transfer towards the sub-strate. Thusthe ZnO layer can be thermally insulated from the substrate while heating the ZnO up to its extremelyhigh melting point. Consequently, such a layer stack could enable the application of consolidated particle layers on temperature-sensitive carrier substrates such as polymer foils which are to be used in low-cost mass production of devices like displays or solar cells.