AZO/Ag/AZO transparent conductive films: correlation between the structural, electrical, and optical properties and development of an optical model

Bingel, Astrid; Stenzel, Olaf; Naujok, Philipp; Müller, Robert N.; Shestaeva, Svetlana; Steglich, Mathias; Schulz, Ulrike; Kaiser, Norbert; Tünnermann, Andreas

doi:10.1364/ome.6.003217

Cited by 22 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Bingel et al. reported that AZO/Ag/AZO fabricated using dc magnetron sputtering showed excellent environmental stability under 85 °C/85% . As previously reported by other groups, the ALD ZnO film showed poor corrosion resistance because of poor chemical stability and tend to be abruptly degraded under damp heat conditions .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 74%

Robust Transparent and Conductive Gas Diffusion Multibarrier Based on Mg- and Al-Doped ZnO as Indium Tin Oxide-Free Electrodes for Organic Electronics

Kwon

Jeon

Choi

2018

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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Thin-film encapsulation is strictly required to protect transparent, flexible organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) based on plastic substrates with poor moisture barrier performances against water vapor and oxygen. However, additional encapsulation process makes OLED fabrication complex and expensive, resulting in lower yield and higher costs for the manufacture of OLEDs. Therefore, to develop simple, transparent conductive gas diffusion barrier (TCGDB) technologies by providing barrier performances to electrodes can be alternatives. Furthermore, TCGDB based on dielectric/metal/dielectric structures exhibit not only excellent barrier performances to protect metallic and organic layers against the ambient environment but also mechanical flexibility overcoming the brittleness of oxides. In this work, to improve the moisture-resistant, electrical, and optical properties of ZnO film, periodical dopant layers were inserted during the deposition of atomic layer deposition ZnO film. These dopant layers make the intrinsic ZnO film more optically and electrically functional. The dopant of MgO with a wide band gap enables blue-shifted optical transmittance, and the dopant of Al atoms makes doped ZnO more electrically conductive. In addition, these dopant layers in the ZnO film interrupt the film crystallization, making the film less crystalline with fewer channels and grain boundaries. This effect results in significant improvement of its GDB properties. With a functional and material design that takes full advantage of the synergetic combination of highly flexible conductive Ag and a moisture-resistant MAZO layer, the MAZO/Ag/MAZO (MAM) multilayer with a thickness of approximately 110 nm achieves a sheet resistance of 5.60 Ω/sq, an average transmittance of 89.72% in the visible range, and a water vapor transmission rate on the order of 10 g/m/day. In addition, OLEDs with the MAM electrode demonstrated a great potential of indium tin oxide- and encapsulation-free organic electronics.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 74%

Robust Transparent and Conductive Gas Diffusion Multibarrier Based on Mg- and Al-Doped ZnO as Indium Tin Oxide-Free Electrodes for Organic Electronics

Kwon

Jeon

Choi

2018

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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“…Many recent studies have been carried out based on metal layers as the conducting body. For example, Bingel [ 18 ] used the common AZO/Ag/AZO structure. The magnetron sputtering technique was used in an earlier study [ 32 ] produced AZO/Ag/AZO films ( Figure 1 ) with thicknesses of 37/10/37 nm, respectively, as well as a sheet resistance of 6.2 Ω/sq and a transmittance of 79.9%.…”

Section: Sandwich Structure Transparent Electrodes Of Different Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Each of the three studies mentioned above has its own characteristics. The conductivity advantage of the metal layer used in the first work leads to the lowest of the three in terms of thickness and sheet resistance but also the lowest of the three in terms of the light transmission, mainly because the metal layer has lower light transmittance than the metal fibers and nanowires [ 18 ]. In the second work, silver fibers were employed, which increased the light transmission and sheet resistance slightly, but the thickness increased the most [ 35 ].…”

Section: Sandwich Structure Transparent Electrodes Of Different Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Research Progress of Transparent Electrode Materials with Sandwich Structure

et al. 2021

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The nonrenewable nature of fossil energy has led to a gradual decrease in reserves. Meanwhile, as society becomes increasingly aware of the severe pollution caused by fossil energy, the demand for clean energy, such as solar energy, is rising. Moreover, in recent years, electronic devices with screens, such as mobile phones and computers, have had increasingly higher requirements for light transmittance. Whether in solar cells or in the display elements of electronic devices, transparent conductive films directly affect the performance of these devices as a cover layer. In this context, the development of transparent electrodes with low sheet resistance and high light transmittance has become one of the most urgent issues in related fields. At the same time, conventional electrodes can no longer meet the needs of some of the current flexible devices. Because of the high sheet resistance, poor light transmittance, and poor bending stability of the conventional tin-doped indium tin oxide conductive film and fluorine-doped tin oxide transparent conductive glass, there is a need to find alternatives with better performance. In this article, the progress of research on transparent electrode materials with sandwich structures and their advantages is reviewed according to the classification of conductive materials to provide reference for research in related fields.

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“…A multiple-layer structure embedding a thin metal layer within two TCO layers has been proposed [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. Specifically, the insertion of a thin Ag or ultra-thin Cu (below 30 nm thickness) interlayer led to improved electrical and optical properties [25][26][27][28][29]. The deposition of high-quality multilayer films on polymer substrates is difficult due to restrictions of the substrate temperature during the deposition process.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improvement in the Figure of Merit of ITO-Metal-ITO Sandwiched Films on Poly Substrate by High-Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering

Gao

Yuan

et al. 2021

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High-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) was used to deposit ITO/Ag/ITO (IAgI) and ITO/Cu/ITO (ICuI) sandwiched films on polyethylene naphthalate substrate at room temperature as flexible transparent conductive materials. The hybrid layers were constructed with 40 nm ITO bottom and top layers, and a 5–20 nm Ag or Cu interlayer. The microstructure and optoelectrical properties were estimated for these films with various thicknesses of the metal interlayer. Thanks to the high-power density and highly ionized plasma in the HiPIMS process, the IAgI and ICuI sandwich structures exhibited good crystallinity and smooth surfaces with high optical transmittance and low sheet resistance. The optimal figure of merit was obtained as 101.16 × 10−3·Ω−1 for the IAgI film and 4.83 × 10−3·Ω−1 for the ICuI film with the metal interlayer thickness of 10 nm, both of which are higher than that from a similar structure reported via sputtering at room temperature. These results indicate that HiPIMS is a promising technique to deposit transparent conductive films onto soft substrates for applications in flexible optoelectronic devices.

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AZO/Ag/AZO transparent conductive films: correlation between the structural, electrical, and optical properties and development of an optical model

Cited by 22 publications

References 35 publications

Robust Transparent and Conductive Gas Diffusion Multibarrier Based on Mg- and Al-Doped ZnO as Indium Tin Oxide-Free Electrodes for Organic Electronics

Robust Transparent and Conductive Gas Diffusion Multibarrier Based on Mg- and Al-Doped ZnO as Indium Tin Oxide-Free Electrodes for Organic Electronics

Research Progress of Transparent Electrode Materials with Sandwich Structure

Improvement in the Figure of Merit of ITO-Metal-ITO Sandwiched Films on Poly Substrate by High-Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering

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