Indium tin oxide (ITO) is a widely used material for transparent conductive oxide (TCO) films due to its good optical and electrical properties. Improving the optoelectronic properties of ITO films with reduced thickness is crucial and quite challenging. ITO-based multilayer films with an aluminium–silver (Al–Ag) interlayer (ITO/Al–Ag/ITO) and a pure ITO layer (as reference) were prepared by RF and DC sputtering. The microstructural, optical and electrical properties of the ITO/Al–Ag/ITO (IAAI) films were investigated before and after annealing at 400 °C. X-ray diffraction measurements show that the insertion of the Al–Ag intermediate bilayer led to the crystallization of an Ag interlayer even at the as-deposited stage. Peaks attributed to ITO(222), Ag(111) and Al(200) were observed after annealing, indicating an enhancement in crystallinity of the multilayer films. The annealed IAAI film exhibited a remarkable improvement in optical transmittance (86.1%) with a very low sheet resistance of 2.93 Ω/sq. The carrier concentration increased more than twice when the Al–Ag layer was inserted between the ITO layers. The figure of merit of the IAAI multilayer contact has been found to be high at 76.4 × 10−3 Ω−1 compared to a pure ITO contact (69.4 × 10−3 Ω−1). These highly conductive and transparent ITO films with Al–Ag interlayer can be a promising contact for low-resistance optoelectronics devices.
Annealing treatment of transparent conducting oxide (TCO) thin films plays a great role in enhancing the optoelectronic properties of the material. Changes in morphological, optical and electrical properties of indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films deposited by RF sputtering were investigated after exposing the films to Nd:YAG laser radiation. ITO thin films of 158 nm thickness were irradiated with different laser energy; 25 mJ, 75 mJ, 120 mJ and 165 mJ respectively. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) results reveal a smooth surface morphology and enhance grain size as the laser energy increases. Highest optical transmittance value of 96.5 % at 620 nm wavelength was obtained by film treated with 165 mJ laser energy as determined by UV-Vis spectrophotometer. Electrical resistivity measurements as determined by four-point probe show a significant decrease in resistivity and sheet resistance with respect to increasing laser energies. The ITO films optoelectronics properties were enhanced with the film annealed at 165 mJ exhibiting the highest calculated figure of merit. This laser treatment method has effectively fine turned the ITO films properties toward TCO functional properties required for solar cell application.
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