Enhanced Fracture Resistance of Flexible ZnO:Al Thin Films in Situ Sputtered on Bent Polymer Substrates

Improving the fracture resistance of inorganic thin films is one of the key challenges in flexible electronic devices. A nonconventional in situ sputtering method is introduced to induce residual compressive stress in ZnO:Al thin films during deposition on a bent polymer substrate. The films grown u...

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Published inACS applied materials & interfaces Vol. 7; no. 32; pp. 17569 - 17572
Main Authors Choi, Hong Rak, Eswaran, Senthil Kumar, Lee, Seung Min, Cho, Yong Soo
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States American Chemical Society 19.08.2015
Subjects
crack density
flexible electronics
ZnO thin films
transparent conducting oxide
fracture energy
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Summary:Improving the fracture resistance of inorganic thin films is one of the key challenges in flexible electronic devices. A nonconventional in situ sputtering method is introduced to induce residual compressive stress in ZnO:Al thin films during deposition on a bent polymer substrate. The films grown under a larger prebending strain resulted in a higher fracture resistance to applied strains by exhibiting a ∼ 70% improvement in crack-initiating critical strain compared with the reference sample grown without bending. This significant improvement is attributed to the induced residual stress, which helps to prevent the formation of cracks by counteracting the applied strain.
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ISSN:1944-8244
1944-8252
DOI:10.1021/acsami.5b04727