Femtosecond laser ablation of indium tin oxide (ITO) glass for fabrication of thin film solar cells

Indium tin oxide (ITO) thin film on glass substrate has been widely used for making thin film solar cells and organic solar cells. It’s important to scribe indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films in order to fabricate different types of thin film solar cells. Here we report ablation of indium tin oxide (ITO) film using a Ti:sapphire laser with 800 nm wavelength in ambient air and a pulse duration of ∼100 fs. The 120 ∼160 nm thick indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films on glass substrates were selectively removed. The single pulse ablation thresholds were determined for ITO thin films. A parameter window where the thin films can be completely removed by a single pass scan without damaging the substrate was explored. Clean removal of the ITO layer was observed when laser fluence was above the threshold of 0.20 J/cm2. Profile of the groove was analyzed with an optical microscope and a KLA Tencor P-16 Profiler. By applying femtosecond laser pulses, nonthermal ablation enables high quality structuring. Therefore there is a great promise to meet thin film solar cell fabrication industrial demands for clean, deep and narrow grooves with high productivity if it is combined with high repetition rates up to the megahertz regime.Indium tin oxide (ITO) thin film on glass substrate has been widely used for making thin film solar cells and organic solar cells. It’s important to scribe indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films in order to fabricate different types of thin film solar cells. Here we report ablation of indium tin oxide (ITO) film using a Ti:sapphire laser with 800 nm wavelength in ambient air and a pulse duration of ∼100 fs. The 120 ∼160 nm thick indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films on glass substrates were selectively removed. The single pulse ablation thresholds were determined for ITO thin films. A parameter window where the thin films can be completely removed by a single pass scan without damaging the substrate was explored. Clean removal of the ITO layer was observed when laser fluence was above the threshold of 0.20 J/cm2. Profile of the groove was analyzed with an optical microscope and a KLA Tencor P-16 Profiler. By applying femtosecond laser pulses, nonthermal ablation enables high quality structuring. Therefore there is...