KR20170006249A - Method for manufacturing transparent electrode - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a transparent electrode. Provided is a method for manufacturing a transparent electrode, which includes forming a transparent insulating layer on a transparent substrate, forming a mask pattern on the transparent insulating layer, forming an opening in the transparent insulating layer by performing an etching process using the mask pattern as an etching mask, forming a seed layer on the transparent substrate, removing the mask pattern, and forming a metal pattern in the opening. The seed layer covers the upper surface of the mask pattern to fill a part of the opening. A part of the seed layer, which is in contact with the mask pattern, is removed by removing the mask pattern and another part remains in the opening. The metal pattern may be formed by performing a plating process using the another part of the seed layer remaining in the opening as a seed. So, the transparent electrode having a mesh-type metal electrode can be provided.

Description

METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING TRANSPARENT ELECTRODE [0002]

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a transparent electrode, and more particularly, to a method of manufacturing a transparent electrode having a metal pattern of a mesh structure.

BACKGROUND ART [0002] Recently, transparent electrodes are generally used as electrodes of electronic devices such as solar cells and organic EL (electroluminescence) devices. Particularly in fields such as next-generation touch sensors and transparent heaters, a large-area transparent electrode having a high transmittance of about 90% and a low resistance of 10 Ω / □ or less is required. Currently, transparent electrodes used in the industry are transparent conductive oxides (TCO), hybrid transparent electrodes of an oxide / metal / oxide (OMO) structure, or metal electrodes of a mesh structure. The metal electrode of the mesh structure is formed of a bulk metal in a planar network form.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing a transparent electrode including a metal mesh of a mesh structure.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a transparent electrode having a low resistivity.

The problems to be solved by the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned problems, and other problems not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a transparent electrode, including forming a transparent insulating layer on a transparent substrate, forming a mask pattern on the transparent insulating layer, Forming an opening in the transparent insulating layer by performing an etching process using the metal layer as an etching mask, forming a seed layer on the transparent substrate, removing the mask pattern, Pattern < / RTI >

According to one embodiment, the seed film may cover an upper surface of the mask pattern and fill a part of the opening.

According to one embodiment, by removing the mask pattern, a part of the seed film that is in contact with the mask pattern may be removed, while another part may remain in the opening.

According to one embodiment, the metal pattern may be formed by performing a plating process using another portion of the seed film remaining in the opening as a seed.

According to one embodiment, the metal pattern may have a mesh structure in a plan view.

According to one embodiment, the metal pattern includes first metal patterns extending in one direction in a planar manner, and second metal patterns extending in a direction perpendicular to the first direction to form a plurality of rows And the like.

According to one embodiment, the metal pattern may have a honeycomb shape in a plan view.

According to one embodiment, the metal pattern may have a width of 1 to 20 micrometers.

According to one embodiment, the plating process may use at least one selected from the group consisting of copper (Gu), nickel (Ni), silver (Ag), and alloys thereof as a source material.

According to one embodiment, the transparent insulating layer may include silicon oxide, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), or polycarbonate (PC).

According to one embodiment, the seed layer may include titanium (Ti), aluminum (Al), or chromium (Cr).

According to one embodiment, the seed film may include a first seed film disposed on a bottom surface of the opening, and a second seed film disposed on the first seed film.

According to one embodiment, the first seed layer includes titanium (Ti), aluminum (Al), or chromium (Cr), and the second seed layer includes copper (Cu), nickel (Ni) .

According to an embodiment, after forming the metal pattern, forming a multilayer transparent conductive film on the metal pattern and the transparent insulating layer may be included.

According to one embodiment, the multilayer transparent conductive film may be laminated with at least one metal layer and at least one oxide layer.

According to one embodiment, the metal layer is made of a material selected from the group consisting of Ag, Al, Mo, Au, Pd, Ti, Cu, Or the like.

According to one embodiment, each of the first oxide layer and the second oxide layer is zinc oxide (ZnO), tin oxide (SnO2), silicon oxide (SiO _2), titanium oxide (TiO _2), silicon nitride (SiN _{x), ZITO (ZnO + In} 2 O 3 + SnO 2), ZTO (ZnO + SnO 2), AZO (Al-doped ZnO), GZO (Ga-doped ZnO), ITO (In 2 O 3 + SnO 2) , IZO (In ₂ O ₃ + ZnO), and a compound thereof.

In the method of manufacturing a transparent electrode according to embodiments of the present invention, a transparent insulating layer may be formed by a photolithography process to form a seed layer having a fine line width. Therefore, a metal pattern having a fine line width can be formed on the seed film. In addition, the metal pattern can be formed with a constant width by the transparent insulating layer serving as a mold in the process of forming the metal pattern. The metal pattern of a mesh having fine line widths of several nanometers can exhibit very good transmittance and can reduce optical moiré and star burst. In addition, since a simple patterning process and a plating process are used, it is easy to manufacture a large-area transparent electrode.

The transparent electrode manufactured through embodiments of the present invention has a multilayer transparent conductive film of an oxide / metal / oxide (OMO) structure on a metal pattern of a mesh having fine line width. The multilayer transparent conductive film prevents the oxidation of the metal pattern and improves the resistance uniformity of the transparent electrode as a whole. Further, the transparent electrode can secure a low resistance property by the metal pattern while maintaining high transparency of the multilayer transparent conductive film.

1 is a plan view illustrating a transparent electrode manufactured according to embodiments of the present invention.
2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line I-I 'of FIG.
3 and 4 are plan views for explaining another example of the metal pattern according to the embodiments of the present invention.
5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method of manufacturing a transparent electrode according to embodiments of the present invention.
FIGS. 6 to 11 are views for explaining an example of a method of manufacturing a transparent electrode according to embodiments of the present invention, and are cross-sectional views corresponding to I-I 'of FIG.
12 is an enlarged photograph of a metal pattern according to a comparative example.
13 is an enlarged photograph of a metal pattern according to an experimental example.
FIG. 14 is a table showing a simulation result of transparency and sheet resistance of a transparent electrode according to embodiments of the present invention.
15 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a transparent heater to which a transparent electrode according to embodiments of the present invention is applied.
16 is an exploded perspective view showing an example of a bonded glass for a vehicle to which a transparent electrode according to embodiments of the present invention is applied.

In order to fully understand the structure and effects of the present invention, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The present invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be embodied in many other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. Those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the concepts of the present invention may be practiced in any suitable environment. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout the specification.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of illustrating embodiments and is not intended to be limiting of the present invention. In the present specification, the singular form includes plural forms unless otherwise specified in the specification. As used herein, the terms 'comprises' and / or 'comprising' mean that the stated element, step, operation and / or element does not imply the presence of one or more other elements, steps, operations and / Or additions.

In the present specification, when it is mentioned that a surface (or layer) is on another surface (or layer) or substrate, it may be directly formed on the other surface (or layer) or substrate, or a third surface Or layer) may be interposed.

 Although the terms first, second, third, etc. have been used in various embodiments herein to describe various regions, faces (or layers), etc., it is to be understood that these regions, Can not be done. These terms are only used to distinguish certain regions or faces (or layers) from other regions or faces (or layers). Thus, the face referred to as the first face in either embodiment may be referred to as the second face in other embodiments. Each embodiment described and exemplified herein also includes its complementary embodiments. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout the specification.

In addition, the embodiments described herein will be described with reference to cross-sectional views and / or plan views, which are ideal illustrations of the present invention. In the drawings, the thicknesses of the films and regions are exaggerated for an effective description of the technical content. Thus, the shape of the illustrations may be modified by manufacturing techniques and / or tolerances. Accordingly, the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the specific forms shown, but also include changes in the shapes that are generated according to the manufacturing process. For example, the etched area shown at right angles may be rounded or may have a shape with a certain curvature. Thus, the regions illustrated in the figures have schematic attributes, and the shapes of the regions illustrated in the figures are intended to illustrate specific types of regions of the elements and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

The terms used in the embodiments of the present invention may be construed as commonly known to those skilled in the art unless otherwise defined.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a plan view illustrating a transparent electrode manufactured according to embodiments of the present invention. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line I-I 'of FIG. 3 and 4 are plan views for explaining another example of the metal pattern according to the embodiments of the present invention. For convenience of explanation, the multilayer transparent conductive film 50 is omitted in FIGS. 1, 3, and 4.

1 and 2, a transparent substrate 10 may be provided. The transparent substrate 10 may comprise glass or a transparent polymer.

A transparent insulating layer 20 may be disposed on the transparent substrate 10. The transparent insulating layer 20 may comprise a transparent insulating material. For example, the transparent insulating layer 20 may comprise a transparent inorganic material such as silicon oxide, or a transparent polymer such as PET (polyethylene terephthalate) or PC (polycarbonate). The transparent insulation layer 20 may have a height of 1 to 10 micrometers. According to the concept of the present invention, the transparent insulating layer 20 may have an opening OP therein. From a plan viewpoint, the openings OP can have a mesh structure. In one example, the opening OP may have a grid shape in a plan view. Specifically, the opening OP may include first openings OP1 extending in the X-direction and forming a plurality of rows, and second openings OP2 extending in the Y-direction to form a plurality of rows. have. The sidewall of the opening OP may have an inclination of 45 degrees to 90 degrees with respect to the upper surface of the transparent substrate 10. [ According to one embodiment, the opening OP may expose the upper surface of the transparent substrate 10 through the transparent insulating layer 20, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

The seed film 30 may be disposed on the bottom surface of the opening OP. Accordingly, the seed film 30 can have a substantially planar structure as the opening portion OP. That is, the seed film 30 may have a mesh structure in a plan view. The height of the seed film 30 may be smaller than the height of the transparent insulating layer 20. [ That is, the height of the top surface of the seed film 30 may be lower than the height of the top surface of the transparent insulating layer 20. [ For example, the seed film 30 may have a height of 1 to 50 nanometers. The seed film 30 may be a metal thin film. At this time, the seed film 30 may include a metal having a high adhesion force. For example, the seed film 30 may include titanium (Ti), aluminum (Al), or chromium (Cr). Alternatively, although not shown, the seed film 30 may extend to the side wall of the opening OP. That is, the seed film 30 can cover both the inner surface of the opening OP, that is, the bottom surface and the side surface.

According to the embodiments of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, the seed film 30 may be formed in a multi-layered structure. Specifically, the seed film 30 may include a first seed film 31 disposed on the bottom surface of the opening OP and a second seed film 32 on the first seed film 31. The first seed film 31 and the second seed film 32 may be metal thin films. At this time, the first seed layer 31 may include a metal having a high adhesion force. For example, the first seed film 31 may include titanium (Ti), aluminum (Al), or chromium (Cr). The second seed film 32 may include a material different from the first seed film 31. The second seed film 32 may include the same metal as the metal pattern 40 described later. For example, the second seed film 32 may comprise copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), or silver (Ag). That is, the seed film 30 may be a multilayer metal thin film such as Cu / Ti, Cu / Al, Cu / Cr, Ni / Ti, Ni / Al, Ni / Cr, Ag / Ti, Ag / . The first seed film 31 is provided for improving the bonding property with the transparent substrate 10 and the second seed film 32 is provided for improving the plating process efficiency of the metal pattern 40 in the method of manufacturing a transparent electrode .

The metal pattern 40 may be disposed on the seed film 30. [ Specifically, the metal pattern 40 may be disposed in the opening OP. Accordingly, the metal pattern 40 can have substantially the same planar structure as the opening portion OP and the seed film 30. [ That is, the metal pattern 40 may have a mesh structure in a plan view. For example, the metal pattern 40 may have a grid shape in a plan view. In detail, the metal pattern 40 includes first metal patterns 41 extending in the X-direction and forming a plurality of rows, second metal patterns 41 extending in the Y-direction orthogonal to the X- Metal patterns 42 may be included. The first metal patterns 41 may have a first width w1 and may be spaced apart from each other by a first distance d1. The first width w1 may correspond to the width of the first openings OP1 and the first distance d1 may correspond to the distance between the first openings OP1 adjacent to each other. Likewise, the second metal patterns 42 may have a second width w2 and may be spaced apart from each other by a second distance d2. The second width w2 may correspond to the width of the second openings OP2 and the second distance d2 may correspond to the distance between the second openings OP2 adjacent to each other. In one example, each of the first and second widths w1, w2 may be between 1 and 20 micrometers. And, each of the first and second distances d1 and d2 may be 1 to 1000 micrometers. When the first and second widths w1 and w2 are larger than the above ranges and the first and second distances d1 and d2 are smaller than the above ranges, the transmittance of the transparent electrode is lowered, and an optical moire phenomenon And a star burst may occur. According to one embodiment, the first and second widths w1 and w2 may be equal to each other, and the first and second distances d1 and d2 may be equal to each other. However, the embodiments of the present invention are not limited thereto.

The metal pattern 40 may fill the opening OP. At this time, the height of the upper surface of the metal pattern 40 may be equal to or lower than the height of the upper surface of the transparent insulating layer 20. That is, the metal pattern 40 may not protrude above the upper surface of the transparent insulating layer 20. [ Specifically, the sum of the height of the seed film 30 and the height of the metal pattern 40 may be equal to or less than the height of the transparent insulating layer 20. For example, the height of the metal pattern 40 may be 0.1 to 10 micrometers. The metal pattern 40 may comprise a highly conductive metal. For example, the metal pattern 40 may include copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), silver (Ag), or an alloy thereof.

According to the embodiments of the present invention, the multilayer transparent conductive film 50 may be disposed on the transparent insulating layer 20 and the metal pattern 40. The multilayer transparent conductive film 50 may have a structure in which at least one metal layer and at least one oxide layer are laminated. For example, the multilayer transparent conductive film 50 may be a hybrid electrode of an OMO (oxide / metal / oxide) structure. In detail, the multilayer transparent conductive film 50 of the OMO structure may include a first oxide layer 51, a metal layer 52 and a second oxide layer 53 which are sequentially stacked. That is, the multi-layer transparent conductive film 50 of the OMO structure may include a first oxide layer 51 and a second oxide layer 53 which are opposed to each other with the metal layer 52 interposed therebetween. Alternatively, the multilayer transparent conductive film 50 may have an MO (metal / oxide) structure in which the first oxide layer 51 is omitted, or an OM (oxide / metal) structure in which the second oxide layer 53 is omitted have. Each of the first oxide layer 51 and the second oxide layer 53 may be formed of a material such as zinc oxide (ZnO), tin oxide (SnO ₂ ), silicon oxide (SiO ₂ ), titanium oxide (TiO ₂ ) _{(SiN x), ZITO (ZnO} + In 2 O 3 + SnO 2), ZTO (ZnO + SnO 2), AZO (Al-doped ZnO), GZO (Ga-doped ZnO), ITO (In 2 O 3 + SnO ₂ ), IZO (In ₂ O ₃ + ZnO), or a compound thereof. The first oxide layer 51 and the second oxide layer 53 may include the same material, but the embodiments of the present invention are not limited thereto. The metal layer 52 may be formed of, for example, a silver alloy containing aluminum (Al), molybdenum (Mo), gold (Au), palladium (Pd), titanium (Ti) Ag). The first oxide layer 51 and the second oxide layer 53 may have a thickness greater than that of the metal layer 52. In one example, each of the first oxide layer 51 and the second oxide layer 53 may have a thickness of 30 to 60 nanometers, and the metal layer 52 may have a thickness of 5 to 15 nanometers. When the thickness of the metal layer 52 is larger than the above range, the transmittance of the transparent electrode may be lowered. In addition, the first oxide layer 51 and the second oxide layer 53 may have the same thickness, but the embodiments of the present invention are not limited thereto. The multilayer transparent conductive film 50 may be provided to prevent oxidation of the metal pattern 40 and to improve resistance uniformity of the transparent electrode as a whole. According to embodiments of the present invention, the multilayer transparent conductive film 50 may be omitted as needed.

Meanwhile, according to the embodiments of the present invention, the metal pattern 40 may be implemented in various types of network structures other than a grid. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the metal pattern 40 may have a mesh structure in the form of a honeycomb. Correspondingly, the opening OP of the transparent insulating layer 20 and the seed film 30 may also have a planar honeycomb shape. At this time, the metal pattern 40 may have a third width w3. As an example, the third width w3 may be between 1 and 20 micrometers. The parallel metal lines of the metal pattern 40 may be spaced apart from each other by a third distance d3. As an example, the third distance d3 may be between 1 and 1000 micrometers.

Alternatively, as shown in Fig. 4, the metal pattern 40 may have a pattern including a plurality of ring shapes. At this time, the plurality of rings may be arranged in the form of a grid or a honeycomb, but the rings adjacent to each other may partially overlap with each other. Here, the plurality of rings may have a fourth width w4 that is smaller than the diameter r and the diameter r. In one example, the diameter r may be between 1 and 1000 micrometers, and the fourth width w4 may be between 1 and 20 micrometers.

Hereinafter, a method of manufacturing a transparent electrode according to embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 11. FIG.

5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method of manufacturing a transparent electrode according to embodiments of the present invention. FIGS. 6 to 11 are views for explaining an example of a method of manufacturing a transparent electrode according to embodiments of the present invention, and are cross-sectional views corresponding to I-I 'of FIG.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, a transparent insulating layer 20 may be formed on the transparent substrate 10 (S10). The transparent insulating layer 20 may be formed using a PVD (physical vapor deposition) method, a CVD (chemical vapor deposition) method, or a SOG (spin on glass) method. At this time, the transparent insulating layer 20 may be formed to have a height of 1 to 10 micrometers from the upper surface of the transparent substrate 10. The transparent insulating layer 20 may comprise a transparent insulating material. For example, the transparent insulating layer 20 may include a transparent inorganic material such as silicon oxide, and a transparent polymer such as PET (polyethylene terephthalate) and PC (polycarbonate).

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 7, a mask pattern M may be formed on the transparent insulating layer 20 (S20). The mask pattern M may be, for example, a photo resist pattern. For example, the mask pattern M may be formed by applying a photoresist on the transparent insulating layer 20, exposing or curing the photoresist, and then developing the photoresist.

5 and 8, an opening OP may be formed in the transparent insulating layer 20 (S30). The opening OP may be formed by performing an etching process using the mask pattern M as an etching mask on the transparent insulating layer 20. [ The openings OP may be formed to have a mesh structure in a plan view. As described with reference to Figs. 1 and 2, the opening OP may be formed to have a grid shape in plan view, for example. In detail, the opening OP may include first openings OP1 extending in the X-direction and forming a plurality of rows and second openings OP2 extending in the Y-direction to form a plurality of rows . The opening OP may be formed such that its side wall has an inclination of 45 degrees to 90 degrees with respect to the upper surface of the transparent substrate 10. [ According to one embodiment, the opening OP may expose a part of the upper surface of the transparent insulating layer 20.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 9, a seed layer 30 may be formed on the transparent substrate 10 (S40). Specifically, the seed film 30 covers the upper surface of the mask pattern M and can fill a part of the opening OP. For example, the seed film 30 may be deposited on the upper surface of the mask pattern M and on the bottom surface of the opening OP. The seed film 30 may be formed using a physical vapor deposition (PVD) method or a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. At this time, the seed film 30 may be formed to have a height of 1 to 50 nm. The seed film 30 may include titanium (Ti), aluminum (Al), or chromium (Cr). Alternatively, although not shown, the seed film 30 may be deposited on the top surface of the mask pattern M and on the bottom and side surfaces of the opening OP.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 10, the mask pattern M can be removed (S50). For example, the mask pattern M may be removed through an ashing process. Particularly, at the same time as the mask pattern M is removed, a part of the seed film 30 in contact with the mask pattern M can be removed together. As a result, the seed film 30 can remain only in the opening OP. Further, since the mask pattern M is removed, the upper surface of the transparent insulating layer 20 can be exposed.

5 and 11, the metal pattern 40 can be formed in the opening OP (S60). Specifically, the metal pattern 40 is formed on the seed film 30 remaining in the opening OP, and can fill the opening OP. The metal pattern 40 may be formed through a plating process. For example, the plating process may include a metal electro-less plating process or a metal electroplating process. During the plating process of the metal pattern 40, the source material used in the plating process may be deposited only on the seed film 30 and not on the transparent insulating layer 20. [ For example, in the case of the electroless plating process, the upper surface of the seed film 30 may serve as a seed. That is, the upper surface of the seed layer 30 increases the uniformity of the metal pattern 40 to be plated and can serve as an initial nucleation site. For example, in the case of the electroplating process, metal ions can be deposited only on the seed film 30 by the potential applied to the seed film 30. [ The source material used in the plating process for forming the metal pattern 40 may include copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), silver (Ag), or an alloy thereof. The metal pattern 40 may be formed to have a height of 0.1 to 10 micrometers from the upper surface of the seed film 30. [ The transparent insulating layer 20 and the seed film 30 on which the opening OP is formed can serve as a mold for filling the metal pattern 40. [ The metal pattern 40 may be filled from above the seed film 30 in the opening OP by a plating process. At this time, the growth of the metal pattern 40 by the plating process can be controlled so as not to protrude above the transparent insulating layer 20. This is to maintain the planar structure in which the metal pattern 40 is defined by the opening OP during the plating process of the metal pattern 40. [ When the metal pattern 40 is plated so as to protrude above the transparent insulating layer 20, the metal pattern 40 is grown so as to spread out on the transparent insulating layer 20 in a plane.

According to the embodiments of the present invention, the multilayer transparent conductive film 50 may be formed on the metal pattern 40 and the transparent insulating layer 20. Referring again to FIG. 2, the multilayer transparent conductive film 50 may have a structure in which at least one metal layer and at least one oxide layer are stacked. For example, the multilayer transparent conductive film 50 may be a hybrid electrode of an OMO (oxide / metal / oxide) structure. Specifically, the multilayer transparent conductive film 50 is formed by sequentially laminating the first oxide layer 51, the metal layer 52, and the second oxide layer 53 on the metal pattern 40 and the transparent insulating layer 20 . For example, each of the first oxide layer 51, the metal layer 52, and the second oxide layer 53 may be formed using a physical vapor deposition (PVD) method or a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. Alternatively, the multilayer transparent conductive film 50 may be formed of an MO (metal. Oxide) structure in which the deposition of the first oxide layer 51 is omitted, or an oxide / metal (OM) structure in which the deposition of the second oxide layer 53 is omitted. Structure. According to another embodiment, the process of forming the multilayer transparent conductive film 50 may be omitted if necessary.

Experimental examples prepared according to the embodiments of the present invention and comparative examples not using a transparent insulating layer were fabricated and the planar shapes of the metal patterns were examined. Both the experimental example and the comparative example were wet-plated on the seed film 30 having a width of 10 micrometers to form the metal pattern 40. [ However, in the experimental example, the metal pattern 40 was formed by using the transparent insulating layer 20 having the opening OP having the side wall inclination of 90 degrees in the manufacturing process. In the comparative example, 30 were directly subjected to a plating process to form a metal pattern 40.

12 is an enlarged photograph of a metal pattern according to a comparative example. 13 is an enlarged photograph of a metal pattern according to an experimental example. Referring to FIG. 12, it can be seen that the width of the metal pattern 40 is irregular. That is, during the plating process, it is confirmed that the metal pattern 40 also grows in the width direction, thereby forming an irregular line width. The metal pattern 40 having an irregular line width can be a day for lowering the reliability of the product in the production of the transparent electrode. Referring to FIG. 13, it can be seen that the width of the metal pattern 40 is constant in the experimental example. That is, due to the transparent insulating layer 20 serving as a mold, the metal pattern 40 can have a constant width irrespective of the thickness to be plated.

Transmittance and sheet resistance of the transparent electrode according to the width, spacing and height of the metal pattern were simulated. FIG. 14 is a table showing a simulation result of transparency and sheet resistance of a transparent electrode according to embodiments of the present invention.

In this simulation, it is assumed that the transparent substrate 10 is formed of glass, and the metal pattern 40 is formed of a grid shape using copper (Cu). At this time, the specific resistance of copper (Cu) is 1.724, 10 ^were set to ⁶ Ω · cm. The first width w1 of the first metal patterns 41 forming the metal pattern 40 and the second width w2 of the second metal patterns 42 are the same and the first metal patterns 41 41 are spaced apart and the second distance d2 at which the second metal patterns 42 are spaced apart are assumed to be the same.

In the table of Fig. 14, the line width represents the width of the first metal patterns 41 and the second metal patterns 42, and the interval represents the separation distance of the first and second metal patterns 41 and 42, The thickness indicates the height of the metal pattern 40. The transmittance represents the transmittance of the transparent electrode, and the sheet resistance represents the sheet resistance of the transparent electrode. Referring to the simulation results with reference to FIG. 14, it can be seen that the transparent electrode has a transmittance of 89 to 91.5% and a sheet resistance of 0.0862 to 1.3792? / ?.

A method of forming a metal mesh of a mesh using an existing plating process includes forming a seed layer on a substrate and then performing an electroless plating process on the seed layer. However, the conventional method has a limitation in reducing the line width of the seed film, and it is difficult to keep the width of the metal pattern constant.

A method of manufacturing a transparent electrode according to embodiments of the present invention is a method of patterning a transparent insulating layer using a photo lithography process capable of very fine patterning in a few nanoseconds and forming a transparent insulating layer having a fine line width in a pattern of a transparent insulating layer A seed film can be formed. Therefore, a metal pattern having a fine line width can be formed on the seed film. In addition, the metal pattern can be formed with a constant width by the transparent insulating layer serving as a mold in the process of forming the metal pattern. The metal pattern of a mesh having fine line widths of several nanometers can exhibit very good transmittance and can reduce optical moiré and star burst. In addition, since a simple patterning process and a plating process are used, it is easy to manufacture a large-area transparent electrode.

The transparent electrode manufactured through embodiments of the present invention has a multilayer transparent conductive film of an oxide / metal / oxide (OMO) structure on a metal pattern of a mesh having fine line width. The multilayer transparent conductive film prevents the oxidation of the metal pattern and improves the resistance uniformity of the transparent electrode as a whole. Further, the transparent electrode can secure a low resistance property by the metal pattern while maintaining high transparency of the multilayer transparent conductive film.

The transparent electrode described above can be applied to a transparent heater. The transparent electrode to which the above-described technique of the present invention is applied can be provided as a heating portion of the transparent heater. 15 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a transparent heater to which a transparent electrode according to embodiments of the present invention is applied. 16 is an exploded perspective view showing an example of a bonded glass for a vehicle to which a transparent electrode according to embodiments of the present invention is applied.

Referring to FIG. 15, the transparent heater 100 may include a first transparent substrate 110, an electrode terminal portion 120, and a heat generating portion 130. The heating portion 130 may include a transparent electrode according to embodiments of the present invention. The heat generating portion 130 may be disposed on the first transparent substrate 110. The electrode terminal portion 120 is formed on one side of the first transparent substrate 110 and may be electrically connected to the heat generating portion 130. At this time, the electrode terminal unit 120 is electrically connected to the external power source S, and can supply power to the heat generating unit 130. The heat generating unit 130 is electrically connected to the electrode terminal unit 120 and can receive power from the external power source S and generate heat according to the electric resistance. Referring to FIG. 16, when the transparent heater according to the present invention is a bonded glass for an automobile, a poly vinyl butyral (PVB) film 140 may be disposed on the heat generating part 130. The PVB film 140 may be provided to improve stability. The second transparent substrate 150 may be disposed on the PVB film 140. Either one of the first transparent substrate 110 and the second transparent substrate 150 may be an inner glass in an automotive laminated glass and the other may be an outer glass.

While the present invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be practical exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, It will be understood. It is therefore to be understood that the above-described embodiments are illustrative in all aspects and not restrictive.

10: transparent substrate 20: transparent insulating layer
30: Seed film 40: Metal pattern
50: multilayer transparent conductive film 51: first oxide layer
52: metal layer 53: second oxide layer
M: mask pattern OP: opening

Claims (13)

Forming a transparent insulating layer on the transparent substrate;
Forming a mask pattern on the transparent insulating layer;
Forming an opening in the transparent insulating layer by performing an etching process using the mask pattern as an etching mask;
Forming a seed layer on the transparent substrate, the seed film covering an upper surface of the mask pattern to fill a portion of the opening;
Removing the mask pattern; And
And forming a metal pattern in the opening,
A part of the seed film in contact with the mask pattern is removed by the removal of the mask pattern while the other part remains in the opening,
Wherein the metal pattern is formed by performing a plating process using a different part of the seed film remaining in the opening as a seed. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the metal pattern has a mesh structure in plan view. 3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the metal pattern includes a first metal pattern extending in one direction in a plane and a second metal pattern extending in a direction perpendicular to the first direction and having a plurality of rows, Wherein the transparent electrode is a transparent electrode. 3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the metal pattern has a honeycomb shape in plan view. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the metal pattern has a width of 1 to 20 micrometers. The method according to claim 1,
In the plating step,
Wherein at least one selected from the group consisting of copper (Gu), nickel (Ni), silver (Ag), and alloys thereof is used as a source material. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the transparent insulating layer comprises silicon oxide, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), or polycarbonate (PC). The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the seed film comprises titanium (Ti), aluminum (Al), or chromium (Cr). The method according to claim 1,
The seed film has:
A first seed film disposed on a bottom surface of the opening; And
And a second seed film disposed on the first seed film. 10. The method of claim 9,
The first seed film may include titanium (Ti), aluminum (Al), or chromium (Cr)
Wherein the second seed film comprises copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), or silver (Ag). The method according to claim 1,
After forming the metal pattern,
And forming a multilayer transparent conductive film on the metal pattern and the transparent insulating layer,
Wherein the multilayer transparent conductive film is formed by laminating at least one metal layer and at least one oxide layer. 12. The method of claim 11,
The metal layer may be any one selected from the group consisting of silver (Ag), aluminum (Al), molybdenum (Mo), gold (Au), palladium (Pd), titanium (Ti), copper Wherein the transparent electrode is a transparent electrode. 12. The method of claim 11,
Each of the first oxide layer and the second oxide layer is zinc oxide (ZnO), tin oxide (SnO2), silicon oxide (SiO _2), titanium oxide (TiO _2), silicon nitride (SiN _x), ZITO (ZnO _{+ In 2 O 3 + SnO 2} ), ZTO (ZnO + SnO 2), AZO (Al-doped ZnO), GZO (Ga-doped ZnO), ITO (In 2 O 3 + SnO 2), IZO (In 2 O ₃ + ZnO), and a compound of any of the foregoing.

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