Pattern Visibility Enhancement by the Hybrimer Index-Matching Inter Layer in Oxide/Metal/Oxide-Structured Transparent Conductive Electrode on Flexible Polyethylene Terephthalate Substrates

Abstract

For this study, we fabricated transparent Mn-doped tin oxide (MTO)/Ag/MTO films with refractive index-matching layer on a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate. The hybrimer indexmatching layer containing TIP (Titanium isopropoxide) in hydroxy terminated PDMS (PDMS-OH) matrix was placed between the MTO/Ag/MTO multilayer and PET substrate. MTO and Ag were deposited by using RF/DC magnetron sputtering at room temperature, whereas a hybrimer mixture was spin-coated on the PET substrate after adjusting the molar ratios between the TIP and PDMS-OH. Pattern visibility was examined by comparing the differences in the reflectance and transmittance of MTO/Ag/MTO multilayer films before and after placing the hybrimer index-matching layer. As the PDMS-OH concentration increased, the reflectance difference at the wavelength of 550 nm (ΔR550nm) showed a tendency of decreasing from 0.66% to 0.53%. The index-matched MTO/Ag/MTO multilayer films showed the highest transmittance (>86% at 550 nm) at a molar ratio of 1:4.