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Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a new room-temperature printing technique for ultrathin, transparent and highly conductive metal oxide films that is expected to enable more efficient and diverse manufacturing methods for electronics, including applications in smartphone touch screens, computer monitors and high-temperature electronic components.
Table of Contents
Liquid Metal and Meniscus Technology Create Snail-Like Printing Mechanism
Traditional manufacturing of metal oxide thin films requires high-temperature equipment and involves significant time and expensive costs, with slow printing speeds. The new technology uses liquid metal as a base, with the metal oxide film that naturally forms when it contacts air. The liquid metal is sandwiched between two glass slides, and a “meniscus” formed by surface tension is utilized for printing.
This meniscus is covered with a layer of metal oxide, like a thin rubber wrapping a water balloon. When the meniscus slides across the substrate surface, the oxide layers at the front and back are evenly transferred to the surface, leaving an ultra-thin metal oxide film with a thickness of only about 4 nanometers, similar to the mucus trail left by a snail. More remarkably, the meniscus continuously generates new oxide film during the printing process, allowing for sustained printing.
Excellent Performance: Transparent, Conductive, Heat-Resistant, and Flexible
Despite the extremely thin film thickness, it possesses metal-like conductivity and transparency. The research team pointed out that the film can maintain stable conductivity even in high-temperature environments. Experiments showed that a 4-nanometer thick film can withstand temperatures up to 600°C, and if the thickness is increased to 12 nanometers, it can tolerate at least 800°C.
Furthermore, the researchers successfully printed these metal oxides on flexible polymer substrates, creating bendable circuit boards that maintained their conductivity and structural integrity even after as many as 40,000 bending tests.
Double-Layer Structure and Gold Application Enhance Stability
These metal oxide thin films have a unique double-layer structure. The central region has very low oxygen content, leaning more towards metallic properties, thus exhibiting excellent conductivity. The researchers also found that introducing a small amount of gold element into the film can further prevent its central region from being oxidized, allowing the conductivity to be maintained for a long time. This breakthrough overcomes the physical properties that typically make it difficult for gold to combine with oxides.
Diverse Applications and Future Potential
This technology can be applied to various liquid metals and alloys and allows for adjusting the film composition to suit different functional requirements, demonstrating high flexibility. The researchers even successfully transferred the films onto unconventional substrates such as leaves, showcasing the potential for future applications in portable or non-traditional devices.
Co-corresponding author Michael Dickey, a professor at North Carolina State University, stated, “We are preserving the intellectual property of this technology and hope to collaborate with industry partners to explore its commercialization and application possibilities.”
The research has been officially published in the journal Science.
Reference
- Scientists Develop New Metal Oxide Printing Technology, Opening a New Chapter in Electronic Component Manufacturing
- New Metal Oxide Printing Technique Paves the Way for Transparent, Flexible Electronics
- Minsik Kong, Man Hou Vong, Mingyu Kwak, …, Michael D. (2024). Ambient printing of native oxides for ultrathin transparent flexible circuit boards, Science, Vol 385, Issue 6710, pp. 731-737, DOI: 10.1126/science.adp3299
(Photo credit: North Carolina State University-Minsik Kong)
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