Integration of Ultrathin Silicon and Metal Nanowires for High-Performance Transparent Electronics

Abstract

Transparent conducting electrodes (TCE) using metal (Cu and Ag) nanowires (NWs) have received great attention, due to their high conductivity, flexibility, and transparency, as alternatives for conventional conductive oxides. Hybridizing with semiconductor, the metal NWs TCE allows for transparent, flexible but high-performance functional devices such as logical circuit and active device components. However, the electrical performance of hybrid metal NWs/organic semiconductor is still low compared to the hybrid with inorganic semiconductor, such as a-Si, while the inorganic semiconductors have the limitation of flexibility and transparency. Ultrathin silicon nanomembranes (Si NMs) with thickness in the range of 10-300 nm offer new opportunities in flexible, transparent applications with enhanced electrical performance. Herein, integration strategy of metal (Cu and Ag) NWs with ultrathin (approximate to 200 nm) Si NMs is presented. Vacuum filtering and hot-rolling process of metal NWs to various inorganic semiconductors and its oxide and nitride substrates (e.g., Si, SiO2, SiNx, and a-IGZO) yields high transfer rates (approximate to 90% in all cases), which acts as a conductive, ohmic contacted, and transparent electrode. Optic and temperature sensors are demonstrated and the transparent and versatile functional uses of integrated layers of metal NWs and semiconductor substrates, using the transfer method are verified.