LIGHT-TRANSMITTING METAL ELECTRODE AND PROCESS FOR PRODUCTION THEREOF

• US 20090211783A1
• Filed: 09/23/2008
• Published: 08/27/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Tsutsumi, Eishi, Nakanishi, Tsutomu, Asakawa, Koji, Fujimoto, Akira
• Granted Patent: US 8,686,459 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 174/126.100
• CPC Class Codes: H01B 13/0036 Details
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 1/02 Main electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 17/04 Electrodes; Screens
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 2217/49207 Electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 63/02 Details, e.g. electrode, gas filling, shape of vessel
• CPC Class Codes: H01J 9/02 Manufacture of electrodes or electrode systems

Abstract

The present invention provides a light-transmitting metal electrode including a substrate and a metal electrode layer having plural openings. The metal electrode layer also has such a continuous metal part that any pair of point-positions in the part is continuously connected without breaks. The openings in the metal electrode layer are periodically arranged to form plural microdomains. The plural microdomains are so placed that the in-plane arranging directions thereof are oriented independently of each other. The thickness of the metal electrode layer is in the range of 10 to 200 nm.

Claims

1. A light-transmitting metal electrode comprising a substrate and a metal electrode layer having a thickness of 10 to 200 nm formed on the substrate, wherein

said metal electrode layer comprises:

a metal part so continuous that any pair of point-positions in said part is continuously connected without breaks, and

plural openings which penetrate through said layer and which are arranged so periodically that the distribution of the openings is represented by a radial distribution function curve having a half-width of 5 to 300 nm.

2. The metal electrode according to claim 1, wherein said metal electrode layer is made of a metal selected from the group consisting of aluminum, silver, platinum, nickel and cobalt.

3. The metal electrode according to claim 1, characterized by having a light-transmittance not smaller than the mean area ratio of the openings in the metal electrode layer at the wavelength of light incident to said light-transmitting metal electrode.

9. The metal electrode according to claim 1, wherein

said metal electrode layer includes of plural microdomains neighboring each other on the substrate, and

said microdomains are so placed that the arranging direction of the openings in each microdomain is oriented at random.

10. A process for production of the light-transmitting metal electrode according to any one of claim 1, wherein

an etching process is carried out by using a monoparticle layer of fine particles arranged in the form of a dot pattern of microdomains as a mask, to produce a metal electrode layer having openings.

11. A process for production of the light-transmitting metal electrode according to claim 1, comprising:

preparing a substrate,

forming an organic polymer layer on said substrate,

forming a monoparticle layer of fine particles in the form of a dot pattern of microdomains on said organic polymer layer,

processing said fine particles by etching until the particles have a desired size,

transferring the monoparticle layer of the etching-processed fine particles onto the organic polymer layer, so that columnar structures made of the organic polymer and the etching-processed fine particles are formed on the surface of the substrate,

forming a metal layer among the formed columnar structures, and

removing the organic polymer.

13. A process for production of the light-transmitting metal electrode according to claim 1, comprising:

preparing a substrate,

performing an etching process by using a monoparticle layer of fine particles arranged in the form of a dot pattern of microdomains as a mask, to form a structure having the dot pattern on the substrate,

using the dot-patterned structure formed on the substrate as a mold, to produce a stamper having said structure on a second substrate,

putting said stamper onto a third substrate so as to transfer the pattern, so that a structure having the transferred pattern is formed; and

then using the structure formed by transferring as a mask to produce a metal electrode layer having openings.

4. A light-transmitting metal electrode comprising a substrate and a metal electrode layer having a thickness of 10 to 200 nm formed on the substrate, wherein

said metal electrode layer included of plural microdomains neighboring each other on the substrate,

each microdomain comprises a metal part so continuous that any pair of point-positions in said part is continuously connected without breaks, and plural openings which penetrate through said layer and which are arranged periodically, and further

said microdomains are so placed that the arranging direction of the openings in each microdomain is oriented at random.

5. The light-transmitting metal electrode according to claim 4, wherein said metal electrode layer is made of a metal selected from the group consisting of aluminum, silver, platinum, nickel and cobalt.

6. The metal electrode according to claim 4, wherein said microdomains have an average projected area in the range of 1 to 400 μ

m².

7. The metal electrode according to claim 4, wherein the openings in each microdomain are so arranged periodically that the period of arrangement is in the range of 100 to 1000 nm.

8. The metal electrode according to claim 4, characterized by having a light-transmittance not smaller than the mean area ratio of the openings in the metal electrode layer at the wavelength of light incident to said light-transmitting metal electrode.

12. A process for production of the light-transmitting metal electrode according to claim 4, comprising:

preparing a substrate,

forming an organic polymer layer on said substrate,

forming a monoparticle layer of fine particles in the form of a dot pattern of microdomains on said organic polymer layer,

processing said fine particles by etching until the particles have a desired size,

transferring the monoparticle layer of the etching-processed fine particles onto the organic polymer layer, so that columnar structures made of the organic polymer and the etching-processed fine particles are formed on the surface of the substrate,

forming a metal layer among the formed columnar structures, and

removing the organic polymer.

14. A process for production of the light-transmitting metal electrode according to claim 4, comprising:

preparing a substrate,

performing an etching process by using a monoparticle layer of fine particles arranged in the form of a dot pattern of microdomains as a mask, to form a structure having the dot pattern,

using the dot-patterned structure formed on the substrate as a mold, to produce a stamper having said structure on a second substrate,

putting said stamper onto a third substrate so as to transfer the pattern, so that a structure having the transferred pattern is formed; and

then using the structure formed by transferring as a mask to produce a metal electrode layer having openings.

15. A light-transmitting metal electrode comprising a substrate and a metal electrode layer having a thickness of 10 to 200 nm formed on the substrate, wherein

said metal electrode layer includes of plural microdomains which neighbor each other on the substrate and which have an average projected area in the range of 1 to 400 μ

m²,

each microdomain comprises a metal part so continuous that any pair of point-positions in said part is continuously connected without breaks, and plural openings which penetrate through said layer and which are so arranged periodically that the period of arrangement is in the range of 100 to 1000 nm,

said microdomains are so placed that the arranging direction of the openings in each microdomain is oriented at random, and

the light-transmittance at the wavelength of light incident to said light-transmitting metal electrode is not smaller than the mean area ratio of the openings in the metal layer.

16. The light-transmitting metal electrode according to claim 15, wherein the metal electrode layer contains aluminum.