Effective role of vacuum annealing in improving structural, optical, and electrical properties of SiO₂/Ag/ZnO multilayers deposited by RF sputtering for optoelectronic applications

Abstract

Transparent conductive thin films require multilayer coatings involving metals and dielectrics with high refractive indices. Radiofrequency (RF) magnetron sputtering technique was used to accurately fabricate the SiO2/Ag/ZnO multilayers on the corning glass substrates at 298 K to be used in Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) reflectors, solar cell, and photovoltaic applications. This method optimizes coating processes in a uniform, homogeneous manner, resulting in improved optical and electrical properties, thermal endurance, and long-term stability. The technique was used to synthesize highly translucent and conductive multilayers. The structural, optical, and electrical properties as a function of temperature in the range from 25 °C to 450 °C were detailed. The crystallite size (D cry ), lattice microstrain (ε), dislocation density (δ), and crystallites per unit surface area (N) were calculated. The values of (D cry ) increased while the other parameters decreased with increasing temperature. The linear optical parameters were calculated. The optical results demonstrated that temperature had an impact on the studied multilayers’ optical properties. The dielectric constants, the loss factor, the AC electrical conductivity, the exponential factor, and the activation energy for the dominant conductivity mechanism were all calculated using the capacitance and conductance pathways.

Ramifications of chromium-to-bismuth ions substitution on the structural and optical characteristics of bismuth borate glasses for optoelectronic applications

“…The Tauc formula relates the absorption coefficient (α) of a material to the incident photon energy (hv) through the indirect optical bandgap energy (E g ). The equation is illustrated as follows [33][34][35]:…”

“…These functions are especially helpful in disciplines such as semiconductor devices and solid-state physics where the absorption and transfer of energy by electrons play a vital role in device performance and material properties. The real and imaginary components of the dielectric constants are utilized to quantitatively represent the functions of VEL and SEL [33]. These equations are illustrated in figures 14 and 15 can be expressed as follows, as seen in references [46,48]: In the ultraviolet radiation region, it is observed that the VEL and the SEL exhibit a peak, which occurs at the onset of the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum.…”

Exceptional and innovational analysis of n-CdS/p-Si solar cells based on software packages and bias point models: insights into theoretical and experimental characteristics of fabricated solar cells

“…In fact, when the recombination speed increases, the diode acts like a resistor, hindering the flow and passage of current [32][33][34][35][36]. The integration and interdependence in the properties of chalcogenide compounds, or those that contain at least a chalcogen element, or that are based in their synthesis on silicon and transitional elements, were received extensive studies, as the optical and electrical properties have been employed to determine the suitability of these systems for photovoltaic applications, especially for various uses in solar cells [37][38][39][40][41][42], optoelectronics [43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56], and electrodes [57][58][59][60]. Based on these studies, our current study was a link between the theoretical and experimental parts of the different system compositions of the studied solar cells.…”