Highly flexible Al-doped ZnO/Ag/Al-doped ZnO multilayer films deposited on PET substrates at room temperature. Issue 2 (1st February 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kim, Jun Ho; Kim, Da-Som; Kim, Sun-Kyung; Yoo, Young-Zo; Hwan Lee, Jeong; Kim, Sang-Woo; Seong, Tae-Yeon
• Is Part Of: Ceramics international. Volume 42:Issue 2:Part B(2016)
• Page Start: 3473
• Page End: 3478
• Publication Date: 2016-02-01
• Subjects: Al-doped ZnO -- Ag -- Transparent conducting electrode -- Flexible device; Ceramics -- Periodicals; Céramique industrielle -- Périodiques; Ceramics; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 666
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ceramint.2015.10.146
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0272-8842

Abstract

Abstract: We investigated the effects of the Ag layer thickness on the electrical and optical properties of AZO (36 nm)/Ag/AZO (36 nm) multilayer films that were deposited on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates using a radio frequency magnetron sputtering method. The AZO/Ag/AZO films had transmittances over 74–89% at 550 nm. The relationship between the transmittance and the Ag layer thickness was investigated with three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain (3D FDTD) simulations to understand high transmittance. As the Ag layer thickness increased from 15 to 23 nm, the carrier concentration increased from 5.84×10 21 to 9.66×10 21 cm −3, while the sheet resistance decreased from 10.15 to 3.47 Ω sq −1 . The Haacke figure of merit (FOM) was calculated for the samples with various Ag layer thicknesses; it was a maximum at 19 nm (43.9×10 −3 Ω −1 ). The resistance change for the 100 nm-thick ITO only films was unstable even after 5 cycles, while that of the AZO (36 nm)/Ag (19 nm)/AZO (36 nm) film remained constant up to 1000 cycles.