Solution patterning of ultrafine ITO and ZnRh2O4nanowire array below 20 nm without etching process

Abstract

Transparent conductive patterns have significant applications in various optoelectronic devices. A low cost solution process to directly fabricate transparent conductive oxide nanopatterns was developed without a conventional lithographic or etching process. A uniform and high density array of ITO and ZnRh₂O₄ nanopatterns was fabricated with block copolymer self-assembly and spin coating technology. A low resistivity of about 3–9 × 10⁻⁴ Ω cm and high transmission of 90% in the visible spectrum region was demonstrated with uniform ITO nanopatterns with feature size of 24 nm. The first p-type ZnRh₂O₄ nanopattern was also fabricated with low resistivity and small feature size of 15 nm. This cost-efficient and large area scalable process can fabricate patterns with feature size down to sub-20 nm, providing a faster patterning capability compared to conventional photolithography and etching processes.