Effect of Nd:YVO4 laser beam direction on direct patterning of indium tin oxide film

Abstract

A Q-switched diode-pumped neodymium-doped yttrium vanadate (Nd:YVO4 , λ=1064 nm) laser was used for the direct patterning of indium tin oxide (ITO) films on glass substrate. During the laser direct patterning, the laser beam was incident on the two different directions of glass substrate and the laser ablated patterns were compared and analyzed. At a low scanning speed of laser beam, the larger laser etched lines were obtained by laser beam incident in reverse side of glass substrate. On the contrary, at a higher scanning speed, the larger etched pattern sizes were found in case of the beam incidence from front side of glass substrate. Furthermore, it was impossible to find no ablated patterns in some laser beam conditions for the laser beam from reverse side at a much higher scanning speed and repetition rate of laser beam. The laser beam is expected to be transferred and scattered through the glass substrate and the laser beam energy is thought to be also dispersed and much more influenced by the overlapping of each laser beam spot.