Thin films of conductive ZnO patterned by micromolding resulting in nearly isolated features

Patterned and continuous thin films of conductive Al-doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Al) were prepared on different substrates from a polymeric precursor solution. Their electric conductivity and light transmittance (for visible and UV light) was measured at room temperature. By means of a simple device, conductive ZnO:Al films with high fidelity patterns with features of 2-20 microm width could be obtained by simply micromolding the liquid precursor film prior to heat treatment. The individual features were interconnected by a very thin residual ZnO layer.